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

Kawasaki Medical School

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Okayama, JapanAccreditation 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 Kawasaki Medical School
Overview
Kawasaki Medical School (hereafter, the School) was founded in 1970 as a college witha single faculty, of the Faculty of Medicine by Kawasaki Gakuen, a legally incorporated
educational institution. In 1976, the School established a doctoral program in Kawasaki
Medical Graduate School. Currently, the School has become an institution for training
doctors that contains an integrated educational path from the bachelor’s program to thedoctoral program. The School has its campus in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture,and has developed its education and research activities based on the founding
philosophy of “Liberal Humanity,” “Sound Body,” and “Profound Knowledge.”
After its accreditation review by Japan University Accreditation Association(JUAA) in 2008, the School has worked towards improvements in its education
primarily through the Self-Study Committee. In particular, the School has worked
towards improvements in educational content and methods not only in the areas thatwere suggested by JUAA, but also in the areas where educational effects are expected.
Those include an introductory education program for medical research in the graduate
school and participatory clinical exercises in its faculty education.
Notable efforts include the School’s clinical education, which makes use oftechnically advanced facilities and equipment while providing social contributions to aspecialized museum. In particular, the School enhances both undergraduate andpost-graduate education by implementing unique clinical education programs, such as
establishing simulated hospital wards in the clinical education and training center fortraining purposes. Moreover, activities in Kawasaki Medical School Medical Museum
promote understanding of medical science and medical education in society.
However, the School still has several issues to address. The School must manage thestudent enrollment cap appropriately, as it still admits students beyond the enrollment
cap, even though JUAA pointed out this issue in its previous accreditation review.
For addressing this issue, the School must prevent its students from repeating
the same grade by making efforts to enhance the content and quality of its education. Inaddition, the School needs to enhance its graduate school education and it must
recognize the unique mission and purposes of the graduate school, design its curriculum
to achieve them, and make general efforts toward such achievement, such as placementof faculty members. In order to improve these issues, it is hopeful that the School will
implement independent and constant self-studies and evaluations and make efforts toimprove the quality of its education.
Notable Strengths
Education and Research Environment
It is commendable that the School has equipped its simulated hospital wards inClinical Education and Training Center with facilities and medical devices that are
actually used in real hospital wards. Along with a nurse station, the center has
general hospital beds, an ICU, bathrooms with features to assist users with medical
issues, and a positive-and-negative-pressure room used for preventing infection.
Moreover, it is also commendable that working clinicians provide human support tostudents and interns as part of Essential Medical Skill Education Team, helping
them develop their medical skills.

3Social Cooperation and Contribution
It is commendable that the School has promoted the enlightenment of general
citizens. For example, the School welcomes many visitors to the Kawasaki Medical
School Medical Museum, such as citizens and students from around the nation. TheSchool established this museum to comprehensively transmit information in
fulfillment of its founder’s policy of disseminating medical education to the broader
society.

Suggestions for Improvement
Mission and Purpose
The purpose of establishing the graduate school as written in the graduate school
regulation is identical to the general purpose of graduate school as defined in theSchool Education Act and does not reflect the particular ideal and purpose of theSchool. This should be improved.

Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
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In Kawasaki Medical Graduate School, criteria for examining degree-seeking
dissertation have not been clearly stated for students. This situation should beimproved, by clearly stating them in the graduate school handbook.

Internal Quality AssuranceRegular self-study have not been sufficiently conducted, and self-study took place
only as a response to the accreditation. The School should earnestly implement
improvements based on the evaluation in order to substantiate continuouseducational improvement. The School should work diligently for improvement toachieve the results, and fulfill quality assurance of education.

The Graduate School of Medicine should make its class offerings, class content, themethod of teaching, and the yearly class schedule public, and should publish thisinformation on the website.

Area of Serious Concern
Enrollment
In the last five years, the average of the ratios of enrolled freshman to the freshman
admission cap is high at 1.05, and the ratio of enrolled students to the student
enrollment cap is high at 1.13 in the Faculty of Medicine. These numbers must beimproved. In regards to enrollment management of the School, JUAA delivered anadmonition in the last accreditation and asked for a report of improvement, but it has
not improved sufficiently. Therefore, in this accreditation, JUAA asked for theresubmission of the report; however, enrollment management has still not been
conducted appropriately in the Faculty of Medicine. This urgently needs to becorrected.