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

Aichi Gakuin University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Aichi, Japan

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

Aichi Gakuin University

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Aichi Gakuin University
Overview
Aichi Gakuin University holds to founding principles of “unity of learning and practice”
and “a sense of gratitude toward all life in the world”, taking these as a basis for providinghumanistic education. The University’s purpose is “to strive for academic independence,the pursuit of truth and the application of academic principles, to teach and researchhighly specialized arts and sciences, and to promote their widespread adoption”. In orderto fulfil the founding principles and purpose of the University, the ”Aichi Gakuin
Educational Corporation Medium- Long-Term Plan” was used as a basis to develop the“Aichi Gakuin University Medium- Long-Term Plan,” and efforts are being made toenhance its education and research activities.
In terms of internal quality assurance, the PDCA cycle functions at three levels:
the university-wide level, the organizational level, and the constituent level. A system has
been set up in which the “Aichi Gakuin University Self-Assessment Committee” (referredto below as the as the “All-University Check and Review Committee”) and the“University Academic Reform Committee”, the organizations conducting internal quality
assurance, bear responsibility for implementing these cycles. However, the division ofroles between the “All-University Check and Review Committee” and the “University
Academic Reform Committee,” and the authority of the President to oversee bothcommittees are unclear. Issues like this suggest that the independent management system
to improve existing education and research by systematically ascertaining various
projects relating to university education and research, aggregating and analyzing theresults of checks and reviews, and providing feedback to the organization and constituent
levels is not necessarily functioning as it should. As such, improvements to this arerequired.
Regarding education, all faculties and graduate schools are working diligently todesign curricula based on the degree award policy (diploma policy) and curriculum design
and implementation policy (curriculum policy), but there remains room for improvement.
Accordingly, the University is working on revising the Curriculum Policy and fleshingout the assessment plan, including measures such as a rubric for graduation theses. Theseinitiatives have only just begun, and whether or not these PDCA cycles will function
effectively depends on future efforts. Again regarding education, further improvements
are also needed in terms of substantiating academic credits, such as guidance for students
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who in practice register for a large number of credits in a single year, and University-wide
efforts to remedy the fact that there are many students who spend little time studying
outside of class hours.
The University, as a core private comprehensive university in the Chubu region,
has also demonstrated commendable achievements in terms of outstanding educationaland research efforts. As well as various partnerships with the local community, it has been
active for some time in promoting activities that contribute to society, such as the “Aichi
Gakuin University Open Lecture Series.” Moreover, in accordance with its founding
principles, the University is actively conducting a variety of internal and external
activities that put its mission and purpose into practice. These can be said to fully embody
its principles of humanistic education.
However, there are a number of issues that require improvement. Measures suchas ensuring internal quality assurance and the substance of credits in the curriculum havealready been pointed out, but improvements are also required with respect to the ratios ofstudent enrollment to the student enrollment cap, which are high at some faculties andlow at some graduate schools, respectively. In addition, although efforts are being madeto reform education and implement an internal quality assurance system, there are somedepartments, especially the “University Educational Reform Planning Office,” which
despite being important internal organizations have been working ahead of schedule
without revising their various regulations. From the perspective of university governance,
the fact that the development of regulations has not kept up with the reorganization of theUniversity is an issue in need of urgent resolution and improvement. Care must be taken
to ensure that the rush to implement reforms does not lead to shortcomings in proper
university management and compromise genuine educational and research activities.
It is to be commended that the excellent initiatives implemented by eachconstituent body, faculty, graduate school, and department have led to the University'sachievements and social reputation to date. Going forward, however, it is vital that theUniversity as a whole identifies these accurately and systematically, visualizes the results
in a way that is easy for students and the general public to understand, and ensure that theresults of checks and reviews are provided as feedback to be fed back to each constituent
body, faculty, graduate school, and department as suggestions for further improvement.
To this end, the University must conduct its education and research activities in a moreautonomous and proactive manner by engaging in substantial development of internal
quality assurance systems. It is hoped that said development and consistent effort willallow the University to make further progress.

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Suggestions for Improvement
Internal Quality Assurance Although there is a system for making improvements based on the results of checks
and reviews under two internal quality assurance promotion organizations, the “AllUniversity Check and Review Committee” and the “University Academic ReformCommittee,” the activities of both these organizations are limited to responding touniversity accreditations, such as by preparing “Check and Review Reports,” and thefeedback for making improvements provided to departments is insufficient. Goingforward, improvements are required to establish a system to autonomously provide
support for improvements to departments, enabling them to guarantee the quality ofeducation and other activities themselves.
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes
Although the Faculty of Psychological and Physical Science’s Health Science
Department has a fixed upper limit to the number of credits that students can register
for in a single year, students can register for courses regardless of the maximum limit
if permission is given by their head of faculty and approved by the Head of Academic
Affairs. A significant number of students, especially in the first and second years,
actually register for many credits beyond the maximum limit. Moreover, in theSchools of Pharmacy and Dentistry, there is no upper limit to the number of creditsthat students can register for in a single year, and a significant number of students
actually register for large numbers of credits, especially in their first years of study.
Although the syllabi are required to specify learning outside of class hours, there aresome that do not actually include this information, and the measures taken to
substantiate credits have not been sufficient. As such, improvements must be madeto comply with the purpose of the credit system.

Although the Graduate School of Letters’ Doctoral Course of Buddhist and Religious
Studies and Doctoral Course of History have established a thesis rubric as a methodof measuring learning outcomes as specified in the degree award policy, the specificformat and operation schedule are still under consideration, so improvements arerequired.

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Student Enrollment
 In AY 2020, the ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap at the Schoolof Dentistry’s Department of Dentistry was high at 1.04, so improvements should bemade to the faculty’s quota management.
 In AY 2019, the ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap was 0.20
for the Graduate School of Letters (Master's Program), 0.09 for the Graduate Schoolof Letters (Doctoral Program), 0.25 for the Graduate School of Psychological andPhysical Science (Doctoral Program), 0.29 for the Graduate School of Economics(Master's Program), 0.13 for the Graduate School of Business and Commerce(Doctoral Program), 0.07 for the Graduate School of Management (DoctoralProgram), 0.47 for the Graduate School of Law (Master's Program), 0.17 for theGraduate School of Law (Doctoral Program), 0.33 for the Graduate School of Policy
Studies (Master's Program), and 0.00 for the Graduate School of Policy Studies(Doctoral Program). These figures are low, and improvements are required in orderto ensure proper management of graduate school student quotas.
Faculty and Faculty Organization
 As the Graduate School of Economics does not conduct FD specific to the graduate
school program, improvements are needed to ensure that it is implemented
appropriately.
Recommendation
University Management and Finance From AY 2019 to AY 2020, a major reorganization was carried out without revising
the University regulations or the “Aichi Gakuin Educational Corporation
Administrative Bureau Regulations,” and other related regulations, so it is difficult
to say that appropriate University management based on the regulations is being
conducted. Corrective measures should be taken to improve the various regulations
as soon as possible, including revision of the University regulations.

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