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

Kobe College

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Hyogo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2022
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2030）

Kobe College

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Kobe CollegeOverview
Kobe College, founded on the spirit of Christianity and global understanding, strives
to foster women based on its motto, “Love Thy God, Love Thy Neighbor,” by serving
neighbors in need and understanding one another. The College also sets forth“Christian Principles,” “Global Understanding,” and “Liberal Arts and Sciences” as
the three pillars of its educational philosophy to undertake educational and research
activities.
In 2020, the College newly formulated the Long-term Goals and Plans(AY2021-AY2030) and the Medium-term Goals and Plans (AY2021-AY2025). The
Long-term Goals and Plans specifies the type of college it aspires to be, and thestudents it hopes to attract, and draws together 10 goals and plans, including its
response to the global era in light of the College’s future. The Medium-term Goals
and Plans lists eight goals that incorporate visualizing and enhancing the College’s
liberal arts education with sustainable reviews on college-wide governance, and thekey items are laid out every year. To realize these goals and plans, the College plans
to newly establish the School of International Studies and the School of Psychology
in 2024.
The College promotes internal quality assurance in accordance with theKobe College Internal Quality Assurance Regulations introduced in 2011. The
College Planning and Assessment Meeting has been established as an organization
responsible for promoting college-wide internal quality assurance to set the key goals
and medium-term objectives, and formulate improvement plans based on theevaluations. In addition, the College Self-Study Committee and the Graduate School
Self-Study Committee, both established under the meeting, conduct inspections andassessments based on reports from the College’s divisions. Issues raised by theschools, graduate schools, and other programs, in addition to inspections andassessments, are discussed by each division and shared in the College Planning andAssessment Meeting to confirm the direction to take among faculty members, beforethe divisions address the issues.
As for the College’s education, the curricula are appropriately designed
based on the diploma and curriculum policies, and course charts are created to clarify
the connections to the curriculum structure and diploma policy. “Clover Seminar” is1Kobe College

among the distinctive subjects aimed at embodying the College’s liberal artseducation. The seminar is provided for first-year undergraduate students as a required
subject across departments and schools, and lessons taught in an active learning
format examine various social themes. It is commendable that this outstanding
initiative helps broaden students’ perspectives, encourages active engagement in theirstudies, and enhances self-directed learning, thereby contributing to realizing theCollege’s three educational pillars.
Moreover, based on its founding spirit, the College actively engages insocial cooperation and contribution efforts as an institution open to the local
community, in accordance with the policies stated in the Community Cooperation
Vision (2019-2024) Community Leaders Training Program led by the School of
Human Sciences is positioned as an open subject in other departments, and provides
valuable learning opportunities for participating students across departments toacquire knowledge and multifaceted perspectives. This program is highly
commendable as an initiative in line with the College’s policies.
The College has undertaken these distinctive initiatives, but there areseveral issues that need to be addressed. The ratio of student enrollment to the student
enrollment cap is low in some departments and graduate schools, and this issue
should be addressed with the student quotas of the schools and graduate schools
thoroughly managed. In AY2021, some departments recorded a sharp drop in thefreshman quota fulfillment ratio due to the declining number of applicants and lower
rates of students wishing to attend in-prefecture universities. The College recognizes
this trend as a serious matter, and has taken measures to raise the number of applicantsand enrolled students, such as strengthening its public relations activities andplanning to newly establish the School of International Studies and the School of
Psychology in 2024.
Moreover, there are issues to be addressed regarding the diploma andcurriculum policies of some graduate schools. Improvements should also be made toappropriately monitor the learning outcomes stated in the diploma policies of theschools, departments, and graduate schools in a multifaceted way.
In the coming years, the College is expected to develop a long-term datacollection and analysis platform, and examine its internal quality assurance system,
as appropriate, in the lead-up to expanding its operations with school reorganization
scheduled for 2024. These measures will enable the College to operate the system
more effectively, and improve and enhance education and research in the schools,
graduate schools, and other programs. The College is also expected to resolve the2

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above issues through its internal quality assurance mechanism, and to progress
further with more distinctive initiatives.
Notable Strengths
Educational Program and Learning OutcomesClover Seminar has been introduced as a required second-semester subject for
all first-year undergraduate students, with lessons taught in an active learning
format to small groups of students across schools and departments. For example,
the seminar explores a wide range of topics in the fields of humanities, social
sciences, and natural sciences in terms of women’s lives in modern times, gender,and diversity, with discussions and presentations held among students. It iscommendable that this outstanding initiative helps students acquire multifaceted
approaches, engage actively in their studies, and develop self-directed learning,
thereby contributing to realizing the College’s three educational pillars.

Social Cooperation and Contribution
Community Leaders Training Program led by the School of Human Sciences isdesigned to cultivate the qualities required of community leaders, and to help
revitalize the community by planning and organizing events for local residents.
Specifically, the program features growing vegetables on farmland and holding
harvesting events as well as providing food and nutrition education programs forlocal children. Students from other schools and departments can also participate
in these activities. It is commendable that these efforts help participating students
develop independent learning and initiative skills, in line with the Community
Cooperation Vision (2019-2024) based on the College’s founding spirit.

Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes
The Master’s Program of the Graduate School of Letters has not establisheddiploma and curriculum policies for each degree to be awarded. The Doctoral
Program of the Graduate School of Letters and the Doctoral Program of theGraduate School of Human Sciences have not stated the basic curriculum design
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concepts in their curriculum policies. These issues should be addressed.
The College monitors and measures student learning outcomes based solely on
graduation theses and graduate questionnaires. The College is exploring various
methods to visualize its “seven areas of empowerment,” but has yet to adopt
methods to measure the learning outcomes stated in the diploma policy. Thissituation should be addressed with the outcomes appropriately measured in a
multifaceted way.

Student Enrollment
The average ratio of freshman enrollment to the freshman enrollment cap overthe past five years is high at 1.20 in the Department of Psychological andBehavioral Sciences, School of Human Sciences, but low at 0.88 in theDepartment of Music, School of Music. The ratios of student enrollment to thestudent enrollment cap are low at 0.83 in the Department of Music, School ofMusic, and 0.17 in both Master’s Program and Doctoral Program of the Graduate
School of Letters. These ratios should be corrected with the student quotas of theschools and graduate schools thoroughly managed.

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