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

Doshisha University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Kyoto, Japan

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

Doshisha University

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Doshisha University
Overview
Doshisha University conducts education and research based on the founding spirit of“Education of Conscience” and achieves its goals by implementing the trinity of its threeeducational missions of “Christian Principles”, “Liberalism”, and “Internationalism”. In
2016, the University created the Doshisha University Vision 2025 to celebrate its
upcoming 150th anniversary in 2025 and compiled a Mid-Term Action Plan consisting ofspecific goals that stem from the six themes within the action plan, and is currently
working toward fulfilling those goals.
The internal quality assurance system was reviewed in 2017, after which theUniversity created the Internal Quality Assurance Promotion Committee to determine
policies and procedures throughout the University and definitively establish therelationships and roles for Quality Assurance Committees and Self-Assessment
Committees inside undergraduate and graduate divisions. The Internal Quality Assurance
Promotion Committee assembles and reviews results from each organization’s checks andreviews, recommends courses of action to the President as needed, and establishes
mechanisms for providing each organization with the President’s directions forimprovement. Specifically, it implements improvements from areas like the “Core Policy
for Developing Doshisha’s Three Educational Policies,” each year’s “Matters to Address
Based on Checks and Accreditation Results,” and others and verifies that the PDCA cycle
functions effectively.
Regarding education, both undergraduate and graduate divisions haveappropriately established their degree award policies (diploma policies) and curriculum
design and implementation policies (curriculum policies). Curricula are organized withconsideration given to systematicity and order. The University is also taking measures topromote active participation from students by ensuring communication with students anddiscussions with teachers using online “e-classes,” providing information on the syllabus,
and checking how well courses adhere to the syllabus using student education assessment
surveys. Both the “ALL DOSHISHA” Program for Innovation in Higher Education that
supports proposals for high quality educational programs in undergraduate and graduate
divisions that align with University policy and “Project Courses” where outside lecturers
are invited to provide students with experience in identifying and solving issues using
PBL-style classes aimed at cooperation with the community and local businesses areDoshisha University

considered valuable initiatives because they achieve the University’s mission of mutual
development via Result Reporting Meetings and have resulted in increased student
enrollment. The University also established The Institute for the Liberal Arts wherestudents from six divisions can obtain a degree via courses taught only in English, formed
the Global Resource Management Program which is a five-year graduate school programin the Humanities and Sciences, and promotes academic exchanges with international
students, all of which are highly valued for achieving the “Internationalism” aspect of theUniversity’s mission.
There are, however, some issues that need to be resolved. First, the graduate
schools do not set forth their research supervision methods and schedule in their researchsupervision plans and this should be corrected because some graduate schools do notindicate these to students. Some improvements are required as some undergraduate andgraduate divisions have not clearly established the degree award policy and curriculum
design and implementation policy for each degree and some graduate divisions have a
low ratio of student enrollment to the graduate school admission cap. Additionally, while
the University established assessment policies in undergraduate and graduate divisions
and started taking initiatives to measure and understand learning outcomes, faculty that
do not use graduation theses have not clarified the relationship between the learning
outcomes indicated in the degree award policy and the existing measurement standards.
These must be clarified and their measurement methods devised and improved in orderto progress.
In the future, it is hoped that the University will continue to implement anddevelop useful cycles for internal quality assurance, address the above issues, further
develop numerous characteristic initiatives, and produce even more independent and selfreliant students that embody the mission of “Conscience Education” in order to further
achieve the University's goals.
Notable Strengths
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes One characteristic is that many liberal arts courses shared between the undergraduate
divisions develop via cooperation with the community, such as businesses and localorganizations. In particular, “Project Courses” offered by the Center for General and
Liberal Education puts out calls for course content to the community and businesses
and then invites local leaders working in the field into classrooms as lecturers to work2

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in close association with full-time teachers. Students learn from people with real-life
wisdom and skills and so gain the problem-solving skills, planning skills, etc. known
collectively as “project literacy”. The University is valued for the way in which its
curricula based on the Liberalism in the educational mission develops self-sufficientindividuals that can think critically and scientifically while working alongside local
businesses and organizations, such as the previous example where developing
students’ comprehensive potential as human beings leads to the creation of strategic
projects with the participating organization.
 The University operates the All Doshisha Educational Advancement Program used
to improve education and research capabilities, offers liberal arts courses common to
all divisions, introduces minors in multiple undergraduate divisions, bears a certain
amount of business expenses, and develops education by fusing Humanities and theSciences, expanding interdisciplinary education, and forging organizational allianceswith external organizations. In particular, the program brings a new approach toeducation by contributing to career development support and the development ofpeople with a global mindset in the hopes that the results of this program will create
waves both inside and outside the University. It is valued for the way it targets
outcomes that improve the quality of education throughout the University, holds
meetings on achievements and progress, and brings expectations of future results inareas that try new educational initiatives that will ripple throughout the University.
This program is expected to produce results in the future.
 The University has assembled curricula in a variety of fields where students canobtain a degree in classes conducted solely in English. The Center for Global
Education offers an educational program within the undergraduate program wherestudents can obtain a degree only in English and a learning environment wherestudents from international education courses focused on exchange students andInternational Specialization Courses from six faculties study together in English.
Beyond that, Global Resource Management uses a five-year integrated system
spanning the 1st and 2nd half of a doctoral program to offer practical opportunities
via hands-on experiences so students can learn a variety of problem solving methods
and the Japanese Course in the Faculty of Global Communications geared towards
exchange students only uses multidisciplinary-style degree programs that correspondwith a borderless and diverse society to achieve the “Internationalism” in theUniversity’s education mission.
3Doshisha UniversitySuggestions for Improvement
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes The Department of Molecular Chemistry and Biochemistry in the Faculty of Scienceand Engineering awards different degrees for a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelorof Engineering, but the content of the degree award policy and the curriculum design
and implementation policy is the same for both degrees and this must be improved
so that each degree specifies its own.
 The School of Theology, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Economics, the Facultyof Commerce, and the Faculty of Policy Studies use student reviews at graduation tounderstand and measure learning outcomes, but the relationship between the items inthose reviews and the learning outcomes indicated in the degree award policies is
unclear and so the method cannot be said to be appropriate. The University must
improve this system by establishing an appropriate method that corresponds to thescope of learning for each degree and working to understand the learning outcomesindicated in the degree award policies.
Student Enrollment
 The ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap is low at 0.36 for theMaster's Programs in the Graduate School of Letters, 0.42 for the Master's Programsin the Graduate School of Law, and 0.12 for the Master's Programs in the Graduate
School of Commerce. The University should thoroughly implement graduate school
quota management.
Faculty and Faculty Organization
 Neither the Faculty of Law, the Graduate School of Law, nor the Faculty of Globaland Regional Studies conducted any FD for educational improvement in academicyears 2018 and 2019. Also, as either few or an unknown number of students enrolled
in the Faculty of Social Studies and the Graduate School of Social Studies, theUniversity must make improvements in each undergraduate and graduate division as
well as the collective undergraduate programs and the collective master’s and4

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doctoral programs.
Recommendation
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes The method and schedule for research supervision for the Doctoral Programs in theGraduate School of Economics are not fully established as a research supervision
plan. While the Master's Programs and Doctoral Programs in the Graduate School ofScience and Engineering supply materials that indicate the method and schedule forresearch supervision as a research supervision plan, they do not indicate specificdetails on the content of supervision and this should be corrected.

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