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

Kanazawa College of Art

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: PublicLocation: Ishikawa, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2014
Accreditation Status: accredited（Accreditation Period: April.01.2015 – March.31.2022）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Kanazawa College of Art
Overview
Kanazawa College of Art (hereafter, the College) was founded in 1955 as the successor
to the Kanazawa Technical School of Art, which was in established 1946. The College
is a public institution containing one faculty and one graduate school. Upon becoming apublic institution, the Mission Statement and the Mission Policies were defined toclarify the direction of the College.
After its accreditation review by Japan University Accreditation Association(JUAA) in 2007, the college has made actively a variety of notable social contributions
and engaged in social collaboration. These efforts became possible throughimplementation of the four Mission Policies (on education, research, social contribution,and management), based on the Mission Statement, which are held in high regard
among the faculty and staff. However, issues remain that ought to be improved, forexample, the setting of a maximum number of credits students can register for per year.
It is expected that the College will further develop by fully valuing the traditions that
the College has cultivated and by devising ways to maintain the Mission Policies.
Notable Strengths
Mission and PurposeIn order to clarify the mission and purpose of the College upon its shift to anindependent public corporation, the Mission Statement was formulated by theexecutive board in May 2010. In addition, the four points of Mission Policies oneducation, research, social contribution, and management were adopted to define
the direction of the College. It is commendable that with thorough recognition of
the Guiding Principles by faculty and staff, the decision-making process has been
modified with clear roles, authority, and responsibility. As a result, organizational
reform, local collaboration, and industry-academy collaboration are taking place.

Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome

It is commendable that in the Faculty of Art, several measures have been made thatfacilitate mutual understanding between faculty members, objective assessment ofstudents, and excellent student guidance. These measures include the Record of
Instructional Research, which records the assessment process; the sharing ofinformational content regarding teaching and student talent among multiple faculty
members.

Social Cooperation and Contribution
Social contribution has been defined as a mission of the College along witheducation and research, and various joint research and local collaboration projects
have been carried out based in the Local Collaboration Center and the IndustryAcademy Collaboration Center. Based in part on educational outcomes, theactivities are seen as an integral part of student; the College promotes high quality
research activities under the supervision of faculty members. It is commendable
that many successful researches, projects, as well as product development, havetaken place. For example, the “Hospitality Art Project” which aims to “explore thepotential of art in the medical environment,” has been ongoing in cooperation with
Kanazawa City Hospital.

3Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and OutcomeIn the Faculty of Art and the Graduate School of Art, the contents of the syllabi
vary among faculty members in their specificities, especially in terms of yearlyclass schedule, and the criteria of assessment. This should be improved.

The maximum number of credits students can register for per year has been set highat 50 in the Faculty of Art. It should be improved in accordance with the purpose ofhaving a credit system.

In the Graduate School Art, criteria for examining degree-seeking dissertations
have not been clearly stated for the students. This situation should be improved, byclearly stating them in the official documents.

In the doctoral program in the Graduate School of Art, some students complete all
the requirements except the dissertation, and leave the university before completing
their dissertation requirement within the time limit set by the university. Later,when these students submit their dissertations at a later date, even though they do
not have the enrollment status, they are granted doctoral degrees in the samemanner as those students continuously enrolled. This is an inappropriate use of thesystem that should be corrected. In accordance with the purpose of having doctoral
programs, the university should create measure to enhance the degree completion
within the required time frame.