A review of recent literature suggests that, although academics in several countries (such as Japan, Korea and Germany) now allocate more of their time to research, service activities and administration than they had in the early 1990s (Teichler, Arimoto, and Cummings, 2013), the majority of university professors still spend the largest proportion of their time on teaching in a typical week during semester. Much less research has been undertaken on academic staff involvement with university curriculum development, in particular the role academic staff play in the process, from an empirically based comparative perspective. The patterns, content, methods of instruction, and curriculum development in university education not only change constantly over time, but also vary greatly from system to system and country to country. The APA (Changing Academic Profession in Asia) surveys provide a recent indication of what academic staff in Asia do and what they think about what they do. For the analysis presented here, UNESCO statistics (UNESCO, 2012) indicate that, at the time of the APA survey in 2012, the gross enrollment ratio in tertiary education in China was 26.7 percent of the relevant age group, while in Japan it was 61.4 percent of the 18 year old population. China therefore represents a mass higher education system that has achieved enrollment rates over 15 percent but below 50 percent, whilst Japan represents a higher education system which has moved into the phase of universal higher education with enrollment rates exceeding 50 percent. Based on case studies of China and Japan, this study attempts to undertake comparative research on major aspects of the teaching activities of academic staff and their role in curriculum development, as well as their perceptions of these activities, between a mass higher education system and a universal higher education system.