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

Ishinomaki Senshu University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Miyagi, Japan

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

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Ishinomaki Senshu University
Overview
Ishinomaki Senshu University holds “gratitude and service to society”, as its founding
principle, which has been reinterpreted in modern terms as “the development of SocioIntelligence.” The University’s academic regulations stipulate that the purpose of theUniversity is “to contribute to the development of local and international society throughresearch in various sciences, and to nurture talented individuals equipped with advanced
specialized knowledge and a well-rounded cultural outlook”. In 2019, the University
drew up a five-year “Medium- to Long-Term Vision (2020-2024)” to “develop talented
individuals with knowledge and skills that can be used to solve various issues in society,”“enhance education and research activities,” and “establish an environment that improves
the quality of learning.” It also started to review the composition of its undergraduate
programs (reorganization of faculty departments), revise the three policies of theUniversity’s undergraduate programs, and improve the academic management system.
The University is actively encouraging students to acquire advanced
qualifications, establishing the “Ishinomaki Senshu University Career Support
Scholarship System” as a framework for motivating students to study. Furthermore, withrespect to students’ demands, the University has introduced “Discussion meetings
between student representatives and the President” and “written proposals to the Joint
Committee based on the results of student questionnaires,” leading to carefully designed
initiatives in line with the policy on student support.
In terms of social cooperation and contribution, the University uses student
volunteer activities and the provision of open lectures to promote partnerships between
educational institutions, industrial fields, and local governments that take advantage ofthe characteristics of the region. The University is also expanding measures related toprojects approved by MEXT’s “Private University Research Branding Project”, even after
the project period ends.
Drawing on its experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the University
has been carrying out crisis management measures on an ongoing basis. The regularholding of safety drills and evacuation drills for all faculty, staff and students is to becommended as an effort to cultivate disaster prevention awareness. These drills will becontinued even under the COVID-19 countermeasures in AY 2020, allowing awarenessof disaster prevention to be passed down among students and faculty.
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In terms of internal quality assurance, the “Joint Committee of the IshinomakiSenshu University Deans’ Committee and Graduate School Committee” (referred tobelow as the “Joint Committee”), the organization for implementing it, examines
proposals for improvement drawn up by the “Ishinomaki Senshu University Check andReview Administration Committee” (referred to below as the “AdministrationCommittee”) and works to solve the problems facing individual organizations. As such,an internal quality assurance framework has been established and is in operation.
However, the relationship between the Joint Committee and the Administration
Committee as defined in the University’s regulations is unclear. The university must
establish regulations that clearly state the roles and responsibilities of these committees.
In addition, the internal quality assurance system suffers from some deficiencies, such as
discrepancies between policies, regulations, and actual conditions, so improvements areneeded to ensure that the system functions effectively.
There are several other points in need of improvement. Specifically, the graduate
school has not developed and published curriculum policies and admission policies forindividual courses, and students have not been provided with research supervision
methods or criteria for reviewing the results of research on specific subjects. These issues
require immediate corrective action. Furthermore, with regard to student enrollment,
although there are plans to reorganize curricula, etc., persistent under-enrollment ofstudents at the undergraduate and graduate levels should be addressed to ensure properquota management. It is hoped that by clarifying the original broad objectives of Faculty
Development (referred to below as “FD”), including not just improving educational
content and methods, but also enhancing faculty members’ qualifications, supporting
research, and understanding the University’s mission, as well as through organic
cooperation with other departments, FD will serve as an initiative to invigorate
educational organizations. In addition, FD activities in the graduate school should beplanned and implemented with the goal of revitalizing graduate school organizations.
Going forward, we hope that future developments, such as identifying issues thatwill highlight the unique characteristics of the University, drawing up improvement plans
and implementing their initiatives will help ensure functional and effective internal
quality assurance.
Notable Strengths
Student Support2

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 The “Ishinomaki Senshu University Career Support Scholarship System” is adistinctive initiative that provides support to a wide range of students by awarding
scholarships corresponding to the difficulty of the applicable qualifications andachievements, serving as an impetus for students to pursue advanced qualifications.
The applicable qualifications are reviewed every year, making an active contribution
to students’ career development and the revitalization of club activities as appropriatefor the present circumstances. In addition, the University responds to Request Letterssubmitted by the Students’ Association by providing opportunities for direct
exchanges of views with the President and other members of the University executive,
which has led to tangible improvements in matters that involve actual budget
implementation. The Request Letters initiative is based on the University’s basic
mission of “building a university that places students at its core”. It is expected tostimulate the interaction between faculty, staff, and students stipulated in theMedium- to Long-Term Vision (2020-2024) and promote further development of theUniversity, and so it should be commended accordingly.
Social Cooperation and Contribution
The Open University Center has been actively engaged in research on regional issues.
Its projects include “From Earthquake Reconstruction to Industry Creation through
New Combinations of Local Resources: Development of Inland Aquaculture Using
Plant Matter (Project period: AY 2016–18)”, which was approved as a Private
University Research Branding Project (Type A) in AY 2016, and aims to establish
recycling-oriented inland aquaculture by growing grass and other plants onabandoned land that is no longer used due to the earthquake and other factors, andproducing fish food using the grass and leaves there. This is expected to contributeto the region’s recovery from the disaster while also creating local industry and jobs.
Even after the end of the project periods, the University continues to develop a wide
range of projects that contribute to solving local issues and return the researchoutcomes to the community. This is to be commended as an activity rooted in theUniversity’s founding principle of “gratitude and service to society.”

University Management and Finance Efforts are also being made to foster disaster prevention awareness. The “IshinomakiSenshu University Disaster Prevention Work Plan,” which was drawn up as a crisis
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management measure, has been used a basis for developing a Crisis Management
Manual, while guidance on University-wide rules is provided to students at thebeginning of each semester. Furthermore, in addition to the evacuation drills heldmultiple times a year during classes, disaster drills are also held every year at thestudent dormitories on campus. The cultivation of disaster prevention awarenessamong students, faculty and staff and the University’s substantial crisis management
measures for disasters, which draw on experiences of the Great East Japan
Earthquake both inside and outside the University, are to be commended.
Suggestions for Improvement
Internal Quality Assurance
The internal quality assurance system suffers from some deficiencies. The roles andresponsibilities of the Joint Committee and the Administration Committee, the bodies
responsible for internal quality assurance, are not clearly defined in the University’sregulations. There are also discrepancies between policies, regulations, and actualconditions. Therefore, improvements are needed to ensure that the system functions
effectively.

The Ministerial Ordinance for Enforcement of the School Education Act requires thepublication of certain educational information. Of this, however, information has notbeen disclosed on “students’ further studies” in the category of “number of students
who have graduated or completed their studies, number of students who havecontinued to further education, number of students who have found employment,etc.”; “organizations and number of teachers involved in teacher training”, and“professional licenses” in the category of “organizations and the number of teachers
involved in teacher training, degrees and achievements held by each teacher, andclass subjects that each teacher is in charge of”; and “professional licenses” in the
category of “class subjects involved in teacher training; methods, content, and annual
lesson plans for each class subject.” Improvements are required accordingly.

Educational Program and Learning Outcomes

The Master’s and Doctoral Programs in the Graduate School of Business
Administration do not indicate the learning outcomes, including knowledge, skills,
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and abilities, that students need to attain in order to receive a degree. This should be
improved.
Although efforts are being made in each faculty and graduate school to ascertain andassess student learning outcomes as stated in the degree award policy, they remain
insufficient. Improvements are needed to clarify the relationship between the learning
outcomes and measurement methods stated in the degree award policy and toimplement these in a more diversified and appropriate manner.

Student Enrollment
The ratios of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap are 0.17 for Master’s
Programs in the Graduate School of Science & Engineering, 0.06 for the Doctoral
Programs in the Graduate School of Science & Engineering, 0.20 for Master’s
Programs in the Graduate School of Business Administration and 0.00 for theDoctoral Programs in the Graduate School of Business Administration. These figures
are low, so improvements should be made to ensure proper student quota
management at the graduate school.

Faculty and Faculty Organization


There are insufficient systematic and diversified efforts to improve the capabilitiesof all teachers that are aimed at promoting activities aside from educational
improvement, such as the invigoration of research activities and contributions tosociety. Improvements are required accordingly.

Graduate school-specific FD relating to educational improvement is not conductedsystematically for all graduate school faculty members. Improvements are required
so that these can be appropriately implemented for all master’s and doctoral programs
or for each graduate school.

Recommendations
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes

The Graduate School of Business Administration has not set a curriculum design and5

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implementation policy for each degree program, nor does it indicate its basic
approach to curriculum implementation. Moreover, the Masters Course of Life
Science at the Graduate School of Science & Engineering’s does not always clearly
express its basic approach to curriculum implementation. This should be rectified.
Although the Master’s and Doctoral Programs of the Graduate School of Science &Engineering, and the Master’s and Doctoral Programs of the Graduate School ofBusiness Administration give a schedule for research supervision, supervision
methods are not clearly stated to students, making it insufficient as a researchguidance plan and is insufficient as a research guidance plan. This should also becorrected.

The Master’s Program at the Graduate School of Science & Engineering and theMaster’s Program at the Graduate School of Business Administration have notdeveloped criteria for reviewing the results of research on specific subjects.
Corrective measures should be taken so that these are established and made public.

Student Enrollment
The student admission policies at the Graduate School of Science & Engineering and
the Graduate School of Business Administration are the same for both Master’s andDoctoral Programs. Corrective measures should be taken so they are established andmade public for each program individually.

In the last five years, the average ratio of freshman enrollment to the freshmanenrollment cap is 0.73 for the University as a whole, 0.77 for the Faculty of Science& Engineering, 0.47 for the Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, 0.61
for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, 0.75 for the Department ofInformation Technology and Electronics, 0.66 for the Faculty of Business
Administration’s Department of Business Administration, 0.83 for the Faculty ofHuman Studies, 0.81 for the Department of Human Culture, and 0.85 for theDepartment of Human Education. The ratio of student enrollment to the student
enrollment cap is 0.72 for the University as a whole, 0.74 for the Faculty of Science& Engineering, 0.38 for the Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, 0.58
for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, 0.72 for the Department ofInformation Technology and Electronics, 0.67 for the Faculty of Business6

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Administration’s Department of Business Administration, 0.80 for the Faculty of
Human Studies, 0.81 for the Department of Human Culture, and 0.80 for theDepartment of Human Education. These figures are low, and corrective measures
should be taken to ensure proper student quota management at the undergraduatelevel.

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