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

Kyoto Koka Women's University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Kyoto, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2015
Accreditation Status: Accredited（Accreditation Period: April.01.2016 – March.31.2023）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Kyoto Koka Women’s University
Overview
Since Kyoto Koka Women’s University (hereafter, the University) originated in 1964 as
Koka Women’s University, a single-subject college with a Faculty of Literature, theUniversity has held “to educate women based on the Buddhist spirit” as its founding spirit
and has engaged in education and research activities on its campus in the city of Kyoto.
The name of the University was changed to Kyoto Koka Women’s University and hassince rebuilt and added faculties and departments and currently offers, the Faculty ofCareer Development and the Faculty of Health Science, and one graduate school, theGraduate School of Psychology. The Faculty of Child Education and the Graduate Schoolof Nursing Science opened in 2015.
After its accreditation review by Japan University Accreditation Association(JUAA) in 2008, the University has reviewed its current situation and has evaluated theprogress of its improvement and renewal plans. The University has also made efforts toimprove the faculty development (FD) activities across the entire university and theenrichment of student support, mainly through the FD initiative and the Self-StudyCommittee. Furthermore, the University produced the EM/IR unit under the directcontrol of the president in 2012 and has endeavored to enhance student support.
The University has made collective efforts with faculty and staff members tosupport students and has produced significant outcomes that address specific challenges.
These efforts include establishing a system to support students from admission tograduation; providing support that accounts for students’ individual needs in an effort to
reduce the number of dropouts; and improving out-of-classroom learning by establishinga learning station for the entire university and the commons for each department. In
addition, the University has made social contributions by actively promoting
environmental education through the establishment of the Center for Regional
Collaboration that also has helped students develop their skills and abilities whileworking in cooperation with local companies.
There are, however, some pressing issues to address, including the lack ofstudent enrollment. The University has tackled insufficient enrollments by rebuilding andincreasing faculties and departments but has not yet successfully fulfilled its quota. The
University should continue efforts that will lead to improvements in this area. The
University’s financial issues also require planned and concrete measures to stabilize thebalance of payments. The University should make further improvements by regularly andthoroughly implementing self-study and evaluation and cultivating an effective system ofinternal quality assurance.
Notable Strengths
Student SupportIt is commendable that the University has successfully reduced the dropout rate byproviding appropriate individual support for each student. Specifically, theUniversity has applied enrollment management strategies to construct its unique
student support system and has established a systematic understanding of student
data via a portal website, Koka Navi. It is also commendable that the faculty and staff
collaborated to support students by creating the learning station and the commons tofacilitate study outside of traditional class hours.

3Social Cooperation and Contribution
It is commendable that the University works in collaboration with the local
community through student-centered environmental education. Especially, many
students and student groups have worked with local residents to protect theenvironment. To promote local collaboration, the University offered a formal course
in collaboration with local companies and groups and has aligned the course withlocal projects. One of these plans, which was proposed by students, has been
supported and subsidized by the government, which means that the plan has enjoyeda good external evaluation.

Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome

The Department of Career Development in the Faculty of Career Development, theDepartment of Health and Nutrition, the Department of Nursing, and the Departmentof Psychology in the Faculty of Health Science, and the Graduate School ofPsychology have failed to illustrate their curriculum design policies. Eachdepartment only explains its current situation and fails to describe the basic ideas ofits educational content, and methods. This situation should be improved.

Enrollment
The Department of Health and Nutrition and the Department of Nursing in theFaculty of Health Science have set the transfer student admission cap while receiving
no transfer students. This situation should be improved.

Administration and Finance
The University should set the numerical objectives for stabilizing the balance foreach fiscal year and take concrete steps to ensure its financial stability despite its
inability to financially sustain education and research.

Internal Quality Assurance
Although it is legally required to disclose admission policies, the Graduate School of
Psychology does not publicize its policies in its admission examination instructions,application documents, or on its website. This should be improved.

Area of Serious ConcernEnrollment
In the last five years, the average of the ratios of enrolled freshmen to the freshman
admission cap and the ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap are low
at 0.70 and 0.59 in the Department of Career Development in the Faculty of Career
Development, and low at 0.79 and 0.74 respectively in the entire University.
Although the completion year has not yet been reached in the Department ofPsychology in the Faculty of Health Science, the ratio of enrolled freshmen to thefreshman admission cap in 2014 academic year was low at 0.46. In the last five years,
the average of the ratios of enrolled freshmen to the freshman admission cap washigh at 1.24 in the Department of Nursing in the Faculty of Health Science. These
numbers should be improved through appropriate enrollment management.