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

Okinawa University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Okinawa, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2020
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.1.2021 – March.31.2028）

Okinawa University

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Okinawa University
Overview
Okinawa University presently has three faculties and five departments, and its graduate
school has one school with two majors. It holds “Toward a university of regional andfuture co-creation” as its mission, proactively identifying problems in the local
community and devising solutions to them. In order to foster human resources capable ofcontributing to the local community, it aims to “thoroughly educate and research inaddition to imparting extensive knowledge, develop intellectual and practical abilities,
and foster promising human resources” in its regulations. In 2012, the University
established the Okinawa University Charter, which elaborates upon its mission andpurpose. Moreover, in 2018, the University established Okidai Vision 2028, a long-term
vision fixed on how it will appear in ten years, as well as the Fifth Mid-Term Plan in orderto realize that vision, and has been steadily endeavoring toward improving its educationaland research activities. In addition, by holding lectures for the 60th anniversary of its
founding and publishing the book History of Okinawa University in 2018 as part of said
anniversary project, the University has been widely publicizing its mission and purpose.
With regard to internal quality assurance, the University has established aUniversity-wide framework consisting of three organizations: foremost, the Mid- toLong-Term Planning and Self-Check Committee, which acts as the controllingorganization promoting internal quality assurance; the Educational ManagementCommittee, which undertakes the role of educational management beginning with thethree policy categories of degree award policies, curriculum design and implementation
policies, and admission policies; and the Educational IR Committee, which is responsiblefor data accumulation and analysis in order to deal with a wide variety of educational
issues. Moreover, the University has established a combined top-down and bottom-up
internal quality assurance system in which individuals, departments, and authorities
conduct checks and reviews as well as implement improvements and progress at the threelayers of the micro level, the middle level, and the macro level. However, concerning its
operation, as the President, Vice President, Deans, and Director of the Academic Affairs
Department are members of multiple overlapping committees, further measures aredesired to ensure that the functions of each committee are unhindered.
With regard to education, all undergraduate and graduate divisions have suitably
designed their curricula based on their degree award policies and curriculum design and1

Okinawa University

implementation policies. All faculties have devised measures to enable students tosystematically complete courses in order by showing them curriculum maps that illustrateoverarching curriculum structures and the relationship between subjects along withcompletion models for each department. In 2019, the University developed andformulated a University-wide rubric (DP rubric) under the initiative of the Educational
Management Committee that measures how well students have acquired the abilities
indicated in the degree award policies of the undergraduate and graduate divisions, andfrom the fact that it has been endeavoring to visualize learning outcomes by establishingits own indicators, the forthcoming results are promising.
With regard to social cooperation and contribution, the University detailed theOkinawa University Policy for Cooperation and Collaboration with Society based on its
mission, “Toward a University of regional and future co-creation.” In addition, it has beenproactively and multilaterally endeavoring in such initiatives as “Co-Creating an
Okinawan-Model Welfare Society: Incorporating Yui Māru (Mutual Assistance) in Social
Inclusion”, which is based at the Institute of Regional Studies Okinawa University andwas selected and certified as the Private University Research Branding Project, as well as
Saturday Continuing Education, which has continued since 1976. The University securesnumerous opportunities for co-creation with the local community through community
exchange activities, such as the Community Contact Day Care Project, the After-School
Kokuba Class, and a wide variety of local residents' associations. The following examples
can be described as excellent initiatives that have born much fruit in education andresearch: the Ryūkyū Arc Research Support program, proofreading activities for Chineselanguage bulletins by students in a seminar of the Department of International
Communication and creating maps of Okinawan industry by students in a seminar of theDepartment of Law, Economics and Management.
Hereafter, we hope the University will make greater strides by developing its
numerous and characteristic initiatives by improving the function of its internal quality
assurance system.
Notable Strengths
Mission and Purpose Since 2005, the University has offered Okinawa University Theory as a required
elective, and it provides meaningful education that conveys its mission and purpose
while challenging students to think about what it means to study at Okinawa
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University, such as addressing issues like regional and future co-creation that
contemplate the future of the University in accordance with its mission in addition toits own history, which was born under the post-war rule of the US military and grew
amidst hardship. Moreover, the University published Okinawa University Theory,
which collects transcripts of lectures, in 2018 for the 60th anniversary of its founding,and it distributes the book to interested parties in addition to students taking thecourse. Its education that teaches about its relationship with Okinawan society fromvarious perspectives in an omnibus format and leads to an understanding of its
mission and purpose while gaining a deep insight into the institution is also popularamong students, and the fact that it publicizes the content of its lectures throughpublications is commendable.
Social Cooperation and Contribution
In accordance with the Okinawa University Policy for Social Cooperation andCollaboration, the University has been proactively and multilaterally endeavoring in
its social cooperation and contribution activities with the Community ResearchInstitute serving as its base. In addition to the University continuously offering theextension course for local residents Saturday Continuing Education since 1976, it has
been holding the After-School Kokuba Class from 2016 while involving students andlocal residents in order to create a place in the community where children can safely
and securely play as part of “Co-Creating an Okinawan-Style Welfare Society:
Incorporating 'Yui Māru' ('Mutual Assistance') in Social Inclusion,” a research
project focusing on the issue of childhood poverty in Okinawa. Also, besides it
providing opportunities for students to apply what they have learned from lectures in
the field while conducting social cooperation and contribution activities through theCommunity Contact Day Care Project and the Ryūkyū Arc Research Supportprogram, the University has been endeavoring in popularizing its proofreading
activities for Chinese-language bulletins and creating maps of Okinawan industry inthe seminar activities of the Department of International Communication and theDepartment of Law, Economics and Management. By implementing these
multilateral activities, the University has been endeavoring to return the fruits of its
research to the local community and solve the local issues where it is located, andthey are commendable as initiatives for realizing its mission, “Toward a universityof regional and future co-creation.”3