University Accreditation Results(Results for Certified Evaluation and Accreditation for university)

Kansai University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Osaka, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2018
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.01.2019 – March.31.2026）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Kansai University
Overview
Kansai University (hereafter, the University) promotes educational and research activities
based on the educational philosophy of “Gaku no Jitsuge (harmonization of academia andpractice).” It presently consists of thirteen faculties, thirteen graduate schools, and threeprofessional graduate schools, and undertakes activities in line with the basic strategies
to (1) realize the vision of an “open university,” (2) promote internationalization, and (3)respond to a growing information society. The University, marking the 130th anniversaryof its foundation, formulated the long-term vision “Kandai Vision 150” in fiscal 2017,
following the long-term plan, “KU Vision 2008-2017,” drawn up in fiscal 2008 with aview to further fulfillment and development of the institution over the next twenty years.
This new vision was drafted through the participation of many organization members,
and in addition to its five-year medium-term action plans based on this vision, theUniversity also formulated “Kansai University Internationalization TRIPLE-I” as anundertaking to promote internationalization over ten years from fiscal 2014, with thesevisions and plans linked together to steadily advance various programs.
The long-term “Kandai Vision 150” is designed to explore the leadership of theUniversity entering the era of diversity in terms of education, research, social contribution,and organizational management. To assure education quality, the medium-term actionplans feature the development, management, and assessment of the University’s internal
quality assurance system. After setting up the “Internal Quality Assurance Promotion
Project” in 2016, the University reorganized the Internal Quality Assurance Policy toshare with internal project members, and the project was initiated under the president’s
responsibility in cooperation with the University Executives, Division for Promotion ofEducational Development, Division of Research Development, Division of Community& Business Partnerships, and Division of International Affairs divisions, the Deans’Council, the Self-Study Committee, the Project: Assessment and Analytics for Teachingand Learning and other organizations. Since fiscal 2016, the University has implemented
various initiatives related to university-wide educational quality assurance, such asreviewing its degree award, curriculum design and implementation, and admission
policies (hereafter, the “three policies”) and creating course numbering systems,
curriculum maps, and curriculum trees. To ensure these initiatives take root throughout
the university and are connected to self-study verified by each faculty and graduate school,

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the Project: Assessment and Analytics for Teaching and Learning was launched in fiscal
2014. To conduct surveys, the Project created a unified design for a series of student
surveys consisting of surveys at the time of freshman enrollment, panel surveys, surveys
at the time of graduation, and post-graduation surveys (for graduates). It also analyzes thedata of each survey in cooperation with faculties and provides the outcomes to thefaculties. It is highly commendable that the Project is helping to improve the faculties’education. In the coming years, the University is expected to promote these initiatives toenhance the internal quality assurance system and advance its functions.
The University is also accelerating its drive to internationalize based on “Kansai
University Internationalization TRIPLE-I,” with efforts including the promotion of“COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning),” designed to offer online
interactive learning with overseas universities, the implementation of “Global FD (facultydevelopment),” and the establishment of overseas internships and international open
courses shared by the graduate schools. These educational approaches utilizing ICT(information and communication technology) are innovative and distinctive. Furthermore,
the University actively cooperates with industries and the local community. The Facultyof Societal Safety Sciences links its education to the local community to fulfill its role asa regional disaster prevention base. In response to various requests, the University has
developed a system to initiate projects across faculties and encourage student
participation. These initiatives are distinctive in that the University aims to embody its
educational philosophy and establish its presence by returning its problem-solving
resources to society. Moreover, to develop the human resources necessary to undertakethese activities, the University is actively promoting collaboration among not only faculty
and administrative staff members but also students to conduct the “SD (staffdevelopment) Training Program.” This type of trilateral collaboration is commendable asan effective future-oriented approach.
Apart from these distinctive initiatives, the University needs to address issues incredit validation of the faculties and quota management of multiple graduate schools. In
the coming years, the University is expected to effectively operate its internal quality
assurance system and management, including support from a university-wide perspective,
in order to address the issues facing each faculty and graduate school and engage ineducation quality enhancement and quality assurance throughout the university for furtherdevelopment.

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Notable Strengths
Educational Program and Outcome
 The University is improving its English education environment to develop globallycompetent human resources with “Kansai University Internationalization TRIPLE-I”
featuring initiatives such as “Immersion.” The “Global Subject Group,” established
as common liberal arts subjects, introduces “COIL,” which provides online
international exchange classes where students interact in class with overseas
universities through project-based learning (PBL). These classes are attracting anincreasing number of participants. In addition, credit-approved overseas internships
and global business experience programs promote career development education
aimed at training people capable of meeting the needs of a global society by, forexample, adopting PBL in cooperation with companies. These initiatives arecommendable as approaches to realize the University’s mission andinternationalization strategy.
 Student staff members are assigned throughout the university to provide educational
support as student assistants (SA), teaching assistants (TA), and learning assistants(LA). LAs in particular, comprised of undergraduate students with course experience,
serve as facilitators who teach discussion methods and other approaches in the firstyear seminar course, including the common liberal arts subject “Study Skills Seminar.”With the support of upper-year students in the same program, participants can expect
to acquire firsthand learning methods and mindsets as university students, while LAs
learn to look at their own study objectively, deepen their learning, and build up
confidence by providing study support based on their own course experiences, withthese supporting experiences contributing to the growth of “Think and Act”
competency. Systematic efforts are also made in training student staff and publishinga list of case examples used in classes. It is commendable that the University utilizes
the educational abilities of its students to enhance the quality of the education
provided.
 The Project: Assessment and Analytics for Teaching and Learning collects andanalyzes data upon faculty request to improve educational content and methods incollaboration with the faculties. For example, the Faculty of Economics conductedsurveys on students’ study problems based on data provided by the Project:

5Assessment and Analytics for Teaching and Learning and offered peer support for
certain first-year course subjects and introduced PBL lessons. In addition to theProject’s data analysis and data sharing with the faculties for implementing further
improvements, three science and technology faculties analyzed differences inacademic ability based on student GPAs (grade point average) and divided classes
into groups according to the students’ proficiency levels in basic subjects. It iscommendable that the Project: Assessment and Analytics for Teaching and Learningand faculties collaborate to make evidence-based improvements to educational
content and methods.
Faculty and Faculty Organization
 To utilize “Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL),” aimed at theinternationalization of education, and improve courses taught in English, theInternational Education Support Office was set up to conduct “Global FD” with afocus on providing technical support necessary for these initiatives. The office has
introduced office hours by its specially appointed faculty members who provide
consultations in English on teaching methods and classroom management, as well as
one-on-one English language lessons with foreign instructors holding a master’s ordoctoral degree, and small-group sessions with the aim of improving the faculty
members’ English language abilities. The office also collaborates with overseas
universities to adopt “Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL),” a program
for learning teaching methods using English, for on-campus courses and overseas
training, with these approaches leading to improvements in faculty members’
educational and teaching methods, and some participants teaching undergraduate
courses in English. It is commendable that these activities are expected to contributeto faculty development that supports further growth of the University’s global
education in the future.
Student Support The University works to reorganize its scholarship system based on campus life
surveys into “‘Gaku no Jitsuge’ Scholarship Selected in Advance and Reservedbefore Enrollment),” with the focus shifting from study support to economic support
in order to help applicants eliminate financial uncertainties while attending theUniversity. In addition, “ASHINOHA-CLUB” was established as a place for6scholarship students to interact and holds exchange meetings joined by graduates. The
club functions as a community that provides students with an opportunity to discover
new career inspirations and actions while offering mutual support from multiple
perspectives through interactions beyond campuses, faculties, and academic years.
These support programs are commendable as unique initiatives that contribute tofurther development of the University’s scholarship project stated in “Kandai Vision150.”
Social Cooperation and Contribution
 The University has signed numerous partnership agreements with municipalities,companies, and organizations, and appointed industry-academia-government
coordinators to engage in social cooperation activities aimed at solving industrial andregional issues. Specifically, it is working on product development utilizing thetechnology seeds produced by the University, while coordinating activities as acollaborative project with the partner city of Sakai, where students propose solutions
to challenges facing companies in the city. Through these activities, the University
takes advantage of its characteristics as a multidisciplinary university to return its
education and research outcomes to society. Moreover, the University established anencouragement award for “Kansai University Center for Community Collaboration
Prize for Young Persons Displaying Activity for Community Collaboration” toencourage student participation in regional cooperation activities, and introduced the“Community Collaboration Activity Self-Evaluation Sheet” using a rubric forstudents to reflect on their growth, with the future outcomes expected to be useful asa unique survey resource. These activities are commendable as the University’sefforts to realize its educational philosophy of “Gaku no Jitsuge (harmonization ofacademia and practice).” As part of its disaster prevention efforts, the University contributes to raising theawareness of regional disaster preparedness by preparing disaster prevention manuals,
holding the annual disaster prevention event “Kandai Disaster Prevention Day,”
joined by its organization members and local residents, and visualizing storehouses
on campus. In addition, since its establishment, the Faculty of Societal Safety
Sciences has taken advantage of its characteristics to have students provide disaster
preparedness and safety education at neighboring schools. The University became thefirst university to obtain the “Certification of Organizations Contributing to National

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Resilience (Resilience Certification),” issued to companies and organizations
recognized for their continuous self-help activities and business continuity plans in
the event of disasters. It is commendable that academic/administrative staff membersand students play active and varied roles in regional disaster prevention.
University Management and Finance The “Project: Professional Development in Academia” was established in the Center
for Teaching and Learning to discuss better educational and learning support throughtrilateral collaboration among academic/administrative staff members and students,and conducts staff development (SD) training programs to enhance the motivation ofacademic/administrative staff members. In fiscal 2017, the Project created the fivethemes of educational processes, educational methods, educational evaluations, ICT,and learning support and environment. The participants suggested measures toimprove educational and learning support through group work, eventually leading to
the realization of the study support workshop, “Learning Café,” hosted byadministrative staff members. This program is expected to continue, and iscommendable for cultivating competent human resources with the aim of developinga “flexible and robust organization” stated in the policy goals of “Kandai Vision 150.”
Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Program and Outcome
 All faculties cap the number of credits students can register for in a year to ensure
credit validity, but they accept credits that exceed the maximum for a range of subjects
related to teaching qualifications, internships, and other courses. In addition, “WritingLabo” and other support organizations are making efforts to encourage students tostudy outside of class hours, but this measure is not sufficient to ensure credit validity.
This issue should be improved in light of the purpose of the credit system.
Student Enrollment
 In the undergraduate course, the ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment
cap is high at 1.27 in Global and Asian Legal Policy Studies, Faculty of Policy Studies.
In the master’s degree program, the ratios of student enrollment to the student

8enrollment cap are low at 0.45 in the Graduate School of Law, 0.42 in the Graduate
School of Economics, 0.36 in the Graduate School of Informatics, and 0.43 in theGraduate School of Governance, but high at 2.38 in the Graduate School of East AsianCultures. In the doctoral degree program, the ratios are low at 0.2 in the Graduate
School of Economics and 0.28 in the Graduate School of Business and Commerce
and the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, respectively, but high at 2.78 inthe Graduate School of Foreign Language Education and Research. These ratios
should be improved with the faculties and graduate schools’ student quotas
thoroughly managed.