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

Kumamoto Gakuen University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Kumamoto, 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 Kumamoto Gakuen University
Overview
Kumamoto Gakuen University (hereafter, the University) originated from a private
foreign exchange institute, the Kumamoto Overseas Association, that was established in1918. In 1942, it became the Institute of Oriental Languages. Thereafter, the new
departments, faculties, and graduate schools were established through reorganization, andthe institution became Kumamoto Gakuen University in 1994. The University has five
faculties, four graduate schools and one professional graduate school in Kumamoto City,
Kumamoto Prefecture. Its mission has been to foster persons of talent with intelligenceand highly developed applied skills and knowledge and to contribute to developing
cultures throughout the world with the founding spirit of “Mutual Friendship between
Teachers and Students,” “Deep Respect for Freedom and Liberty,” and “Warm Heart ofOne School as One Family.” The University is engaged in education and research
activities that foster persons contributing to society and the local community.
After its accreditation review by Japan University Accreditation Association(JUAA) in 2008, the University established and reorganized the Graduate School ofAccountancy and the Department of Life Wellness in the Faculty of Social Welfare inorder to develop an education and research organization that meets the needs of thechanging age and society. JUAA has acknowledged in this accreditation effort that theOpen Research Center for Minamata Studies in the University has earned worldwiderecognition as a research institute that earnestly tackles local issues. It is noteworthy that
the University not only offers a unique curriculum that helps students learn from andcontribute to society, but also that it was developed by each of the faculties and graduate
schools, and attempts to generalize multiple efforts to deal with social issues in the localcommunity.
While these respectable practices have been observed, several issues need to beaddressed. For example, the education content, the implementation of a course-based
degree-granting system, and the admission of students in the doctoral programs in thegraduate school all require attention. Another major challenge is that the University has
not regularly conducted self-study of the University as a whole, resulting in insufficiency
in internal quality assurance. In an effort to make self-study effective, the entire
University is expected to develop a mechanism for changing itself effectively and todemonstrate the quality of the educational and research activities to society.
Prior to this accreditation review, the Graduate School of Accountancy had
already undergone professional graduate school accreditation review for by theInternational Accounting Education Association in 2013.Thus, JUAA reviewed theSchool this time by examining the improvements from 2013 onward from the standpointof University Accreditation (institutional certified evaluation and accreditation).
Notable Strengths
Education and Research Organization
It is commendable that the Open Research Center for Minamata Studies has been
regarded as one of the most distinctive research bodies of the University. The Centerhas continuously made and consolidated a variety of efforts, from both international
and local perspectives, and plays an important role in society. These efforts include
developing the framework that involves the local community in research, dispatchingand expanding the outcomes of Minamata studies domestically and internationally,and training young researchers. Moreover, the Center has reflected the knowledge ineducation of the University.

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Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome

It is commendable that the educational content of various courses signifies a uniqueattempt to learn from and contribute to the local community. For example, theFaculty of Social Welfare offers the Minamata Studies program, which deals with theenvironmental problems in the local community and provides an opportunity to learnabout Minamata disease from many different perspectives beyond the arena of thevictims and researchers. The program for training leaders in the local communities
aims at mitigating disaster and administered with the collaboration of three otheruniversities in Kumamoto Prefecture. The program provides opportunities frompublic policy and other perspectives (for example, through a lecture on social work tomitigate disaster) and offers a workshop on social work to mitigate disaster thatprovides an opportunity to support people and research in affected communities. The
Social Welfare and Environment master’s program in the Graduate School of Social
Welfare offers subjects, such as Fieldwork in Social Work and Environment andStudies in Methodology for Social Research, that are both coordinated with researchin the Center for Minamata Studies in order to utilize the center’s expertise.

Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome

The policies on degree award of all graduate schools state only the requirements forcourse completion and the process for completing degrees but do not refer to theknowledge and abilities required for the degree completion. This should beimproved.

The doctoral programs in management in the Graduate School of Commerce andsocial welfare in the Graduate School of Social Welfare do not appropriately
combine research work and course work. Considering the purpose of the credit-based
degree-granting system, the doctoral program should offer appropriate educationalcontent.

For students in the fourth year and after in the Faculty of Commerce, the Faculty ofEconomics, the Faculty of Foreign Studies, the first and second divisions in theFaculty of Social Welfare (except the Department of Life Wellness), andfirst-division students in the Department of Life Wellness, the maximum limit ofcredits they are allowed to register for in a year is high at 50. This should beimproved, considering the purpose of a credit-based system.

In the master’s program in the Graduate School of Commerce, the criteria for
examining a report of research results (research paper) on a specific topic are notclearly stated. These criteria should be stated clearly in the graduate student
handbook and communicated to students in advance.

In the doctoral programs in the graduate schools, some students complete all therequirements except the dissertation, and leave the university before completing thedissertation requirement within the time limit by the University. Later, when thesestudents submit their dissertations, even though they do not have enrollment status,
they are granted doctoral degrees in the same manner as those students continuously
enrolled. This is an inappropriate use of the system that should be corrected. In
accordance with the purpose of having doctoral programs, the University should
create measures to enhance the degree completion within the required time frame.

4Enrollment
The average of the ratios of the last five years of enrolled freshmen to the freshman
admission cap and the ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap are low
at 0.87 and 0.80 respectively in the first division in the Department of SocialEnvironment and Welfare in the Faculty of Social Welfare, and at 0.48 and 0.51
respectively in the second division in the Department of Social Welfare in the Facultyof Social Welfare. The ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap is low
at 0.88 in the Department of Commerce of the Faculty of Commerce, and at 0.25 inmaster’s program in the Graduate School of Area-based Cultural Studies. Conversely,
the average of the ratios of the last five years of enrolled freshmen to the freshman
admission cap is high at 1.26 in the first division in the Department of Life Wellness
in the Faculty of Social Welfare, and the ratio of enrolled students to the student
enrollment cap is high at 2.56 in the doctoral program in the Graduate School ofSocial Welfare. These numbers should be improved.

Administration and FinanceIn an effort to establish sound financial conditions, the University developed athree-year plan to restore fiscal health in 2013. However, the content of the plan is not
sufficiently or organically related to the later report on the effort to vitalize education
within the University. These plans should be reviewed to ensure the sufficient
implementation of research into education while securing financial resources.

Internal Quality AssuranceSelf-study has been conducted since the last accreditation, but the central focus has
been coping with the issues pointed out in the previous accreditation, and they have
not regularly been carried out across the entire university. Self-study conducted ineach section should be coordinated with evaluation across the entire university
according to the Regulation on Self-Study, developed in 2014.