Supplementary Review Results

Hirosaki Gakuin University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Aomori, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2019
Accreditation Status: Accredited（Accreditation Period: April 1.2020 – March 31.2025）

Supplementary Review Resultsfor Hirosaki Gakuin University
Overview
As a result of the University Accreditation of Hirosaki Gakuin University (hereinafterreferred to as the “University”) conducted by the Japan University Accreditation
Association in AY2017, serious issues requiring addressing were raised in regard to thethree areas of faculty members and faculty, student enrollment, and management andfinance, and, due to the severity of the issues, it was determined that the University did
not meet the University Standards of the Japan University Accreditation Association. In
addition to the above, seven other suggestions for improvement were made.
In response to these suggestions, the University has established the Risk
Management Committee, chaired by the president, and engaged in improvement incooperation with the committees responsible for the respective areas. As for the threeareas of serious concern mentioned above that resulted in the determination of nonconformity to the University Standards, the Risk Management Committee considers thearea of faculty members and faculty, and measures of improvement in the areas of student
enrollment and finance are developed and implemented by the New Strategy Meeting,which had already been in charge of student recruitment activities prior to the university
accreditation, and the Management Improvement Implementation Meeting, which wasestablished in AY2018 for the purpose of promoting financial improvement. The present
Supplementary Review involved conducting an assessment in line with the University
Standards effective as of the time of conducting the previous University Accreditation.
As a result, although some areas have not yet been sufficiently improved, it wasdetermined, based on a comprehensive judgment of the progress of improvement
regarding the three areas of serious concern requiring improvement, that the University
satisfies the University Standards.
First, regarding faculty members and faculty, the University implemented
personnel-related measures, such as qualification examinations for graduate school
supervisors, in line with the Hirosaki Gakuin University Ideal Faculty Member Profile
and Faculty Organization Policy and in accordance with the hiring and promotion
regulations in the relevant schools and graduate schools, in order to address the fact that
the University as a whole was short of five full-time faculty members, including two
professors, relative to the number required under the Standards for Establishment of
Universities, the Department of Japanese Literature (Master’s Program) in the Graduate2

School of Liberal Arts was short of one research supervisor relative to the number
required under the Standards for Establishment of Graduate Schools, and the Departmentof Human and Social Welfare (Master’s Program) in the Graduate School of Social
Welfare was short of two research supervisors relative to the number required under theStandards for Establishment of Graduate Schools. As of May 1, 2018, the University as awhole had the required number of full-time faculty members. However, the Department
of Japanese Literature (Master’s Program) in the Graduate School of Liberal Arts was
still short of one research supervisor, and the Department of Human and Social Welfare(Master’s Program) in the Graduate School of Social Welfare was still short of two
research supervisors. Subsequently, as a result of qualification examinations conductedby the Graduate School Committee based on faculty members’ research and educational
achievements, one professor at the Japanese / Japanese Literature Department in the
School of Liberal Arts, and two professors at the Social Welfare Department in the Schoolof Social Welfare were assigned to the respective graduate schools as full-time faculty
members. Thus, as of May 1, 2019, the University had the required number of full-time
faculty members as provided in the Standards for Establishment of Universities and theStandards for Establishment of Graduate Schools. With regard to the issues concerning
faculty members and faculty that required addressing, the University has improved thesituation by hiring and promoting personnel in accordance with the Hirosaki Gakuin
University Regulations for Faculty Member Hiring and Promotion, among otherregulations. However, the University should not only address the shortage in the numberof faculty members, but should also make improvements in the three areas listed below
in order to organize a sustainable faculty structure in an appropriate manner going forward.
(i) The number of full-time faculty members hired in accordance with the Hirosaki
Gakuin University and Graduate School Regulations (Bylaws) on the Hiring Process ofSpecial Pay Faculty Members (Contract Faculty Members) has increased. Their term of
employment is one year, but it is stated that “Age restrictions pursuant to the Retirement
Regulations and the like shall not apply,” thereby rendering the Retirement Regulations
ineffective. In view of this issue and other inadequacies observed in human resourcesrelated regulations, the University should establish such regulations appropriately inconsideration of the hiring conditions of full-time faculty members. (ii) In AY2018, theRisk Management Committee formulated a two-year human resources plan, the Faculty
Member Hiring Plan Taking Into Account Faculty Member Age Distribution, but four ofthe seven faculty members hired in AY2018 were above retirement age, and the unbalancein faculty age distribution has not yet been improved. Therefore, going forward, theUniversity should give due consideration to age distribution when hiring faculty members.
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(iii) The Risk Management Committee has been responsible for increasing the number offaculty members, but the committee cannot be considered an organization capable ofexamining human resources-related matters on a permanent basis. Therefore, theUniversity should create a system whereby faculty appropriateness is regularly reviewed
and assessed and improvements are made based on the review/assessment results.
In view of the fact that as of AY2017, the average of ratios of freshmanenrollment to the freshman enrollment cap and the ratios of student enrollment to thestudent enrollment cap in the preceding five years had been at a low level in the University
as a whole, the School of Liberal Arts, the English/ English Literature Department andJapanese / Japanese Literature Department in the School of Liberal Arts, and the Schoolof Social Welfare, the University formulated the Mid- to Long-term Target Action Plan
to improve the enrollment situation, and implemented many measures within a shortperiod of time, such as enhancing connectivity between high schools, including thoseaffiliated to the University, and the University, improving open campus events, visiting
high schools more frequently, establishing new scholarship programs, modifying theentrance examination system, and reducing the enrollment quota for the School of Social
Welfare. As a result, the enrollment number increased on a university-wide basis in
AY2018, and the AY2019 numbers are also showing a positive trend toward improvement.
With the exception of the ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap in theJapanese / Japanese Literature Department in the School of Liberal Arts, however, theaverage of ratios of freshman enrollment to the freshman enrollment cap and the ratios ofstudent enrollment to the student enrollment cap in the last five years in almost all of theschools and departments which were mentioned previously, as well as in the University
as a whole, are still low, even though the numbers have improved as compared to when
the previous University Accreditation was conducted. Therefore, the University shouldmake further improvements toward ensuring that quotas are met.
As for management and finance, the University had not formulated a mid- tolong-term financial plan despite the fact that the ratio of the excessive amount of carriedover expenditures for the next year to the income from business operations (attributable
income) was extremely high and the ratio of the financial assets to the required reserve
fund was extremely low. Taking the results of the previous University Accreditation
seriously, the University formulated the Hirosaki Gakuin Management Improvement Plan
for AY2018 to AY2022 (Five-year Plan) in AY2018. The plan clearly expresses the needfor educational reform in line with the University’s founding principles, including reviewof the quota for the School of Social Welfare and implementation of curriculum reformin order to conduct general education that focuses on the development of communication4

skills, and also presents a clear financial plan for achieving a healthy financial situation
through cutting labor costs and paying down debt. The University set a financial target to“Achieve an operating margin of 5% or more in the final year under the Management
Improvement Plan,” and has conducted a simulation involving statements of income andexpenditures, statements of operating income and expenditures, and balance sheets forthe period from AY2019 to AY2022. In relation to this financial plan, the University has
implemented measures for improvement in order to gain external funding, such as holding
briefings and workshops on Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research application. However,no concrete measures have been established regarding the labor cost reduction plan.
Moreover, the operating margin for the final year in the simulation is expected to beunattainable as a financial target.
Regarding the financial situation, the corporation as a whole as well as theuniversity division have maintained a positive net income, and thus a certain level of
improvement has been achieved as compared to when the previous University
Accreditation was conducted. However, partly due to the fact that only one year has
passed since the formulation of the financial plan, the ratio of the excessive amount ofcarried over expenditures for the next year to the income from business operations(attributable income) is still extremely high, and the ratio of the financial assets to therequired reserve fund is still extremely low. Therefore, the University should strive toimprove its financial situation from a mid- to long-term perspective in order to establish
the financial base necessary to conduct educational and research activities in a stablemanner. Going forward, the University should further clarify the details of current
measures and the targets to be achieved in order to use the Management Improvement
Plan as an effective roadmap for financial improvement. The University should
consistently engage in the measures currently under planning.
Next, the University has made many improvements in regard to the sevensuggestions for improvement made previously. However, further improvement is desired
for the areas below, as satisfactory results have not necessarily been achieved.
As for educational programs, methods, and outcomes, the University has limited
the number of credits students can register for in a single year to 48 credits in both the
School of Liberal Arts and the School of Social Welfare, in response to the fact that thelimit had been too high. However, since the limit does not apply to certification-related
subjects, the University should ensure that the newly imposed limit does not become amere formality. Regarding the fact that organizational workshops and research for
improving educational programs and methods have not been conducted in the graduate
schools, the University has stated the intention to arrange exchange meetings between
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graduate students and supervisors and enable students to participate in academic
conferences and on-site training programs, and thereby enhance research supervision bypromoting exchange with students. However, these activities do not extend beyond thescope of regular research supervision, and thus the graduate schools should engage in thedevelopment of more sophisticated organizational workshops and research in order toimprove their educational programs and methods.
With regard to the fact that the ratio of student enrollment to the student
enrollment cap was low in the Graduate Schools of Liberal Arts and Social Welfare, theratio is still low in both graduate schools as of May 1, 2019. Therefore, the University
should make improvements to meet the quotas for its graduate program.
Regarding educational and research environment, it was shown in the previous
University Accreditation that the University had not established regulations for dealing
with cases of research fraud. In relation to this, the University reported that although theHirosaki Gakuin University Regulations and Bylaws for Fraudulent Research Activity
and the Hirosaki Gakuin University Guidelines for the Preservation of Research Material,
etc. had been established and disseminated to members of faculty and staff, they were notaware of the regulations and guidelines and that there had been a shortcoming in thesubmitted documents. The fact that the University was not aware of the existence ofregulations and other important internal documents is a clear indication of the lack ofawareness regarding research fraud, as well as of the presence of governance-related
problems. Going forward, the University plans to create a manual for research supervisionin the graduate program. Research fraud is an issue that may lead to the loss of publictrust in the University, and thus requires a university-wide response.
As described above, the University has swiftly implemented measures for
improvement in response to the results of the AY2017 University Accreditation, althoughsome areas still need improvement. It is worth noting that the issues of serious concern
had already been raised in the University Accreditation before the previous one, meaningthat the University did not implement the appropriate measures on a university-wide level
until receiving the results of the previous University Accreditation. Going forward, we
hope the University seriously takes the fact that there remain areas requiring further
improvement, continues engaging in addressing the issues, and develops its program evermore in order to enhance educational quality.
Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Program, Methods, and Outcome6 The activities for improvement of educational programs and methods conducted in
the Graduate Schools of Liberal Arts and Social Welfare do not extend beyond thescope of regular research supervision, and organizational workshops and research forfaculty members are still not being conducted in order to improve educational
programs and methods. This should be improved.
Student Enrollment
 The ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap was low in the graduate
schools (Master’s Programs) in AY2019, at 0.10 in the Graduate School of Liberal
Arts and 0.20 in the Graduate School of Social Welfare. Therefore, the University
should significantly improve graduate school quota management.
Management and Finance The University formulated the Hirosaki Gakuin Management Improvement Plan for
AY2018 to AY2022 (Five-year Plan) in response to the results of the previous
University Accreditation. However, the University has not established concretemeasures or targets pertaining to cutting labor costs, among other areas, and thefinancial target for the final year in the simulation is expected to be unattainable.
Although the corporation as a whole as well as the university division havemaintained a positive net income, the ratio of the excessive amount of carried overexpenditures for next year to the income from business operations (attributable
income) is still high, and the ratio of the financial assets to the required reserve fundis still low. Therefore, the University should review the plan and establish the financialbase necessary to conduct educational and research activities in a stable manner.
Recommendations
Student Enrollment
 In AY2019, the average of ratios of freshman enrollment to the freshman enrollment
cap in the preceding five years was still low at 0.75 in the University as a whole, 0.68
in the School of Liberal Arts, 0.50 in the English / English Literature Department in
the School of Liberal Arts, 0.86 in the Japanese / Japanese Literature Department in7the School of Liberal Arts, and 0.70 in the School of Social Welfare. The ratio ofstudent enrollment to the student enrollment cap has also been low at 0.76 in the
University as a whole, 0.71 in the School of Liberal Arts, 0.53 in the English / English
Literature Department in the School of Liberal Arts, and 0.68 in the School of Social
Welfare. Therefore, the University should significantly improve quota management
for its undergraduate program.

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