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

Kindai University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Osaka, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2021
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.1.2022 – March 31, 2029）

Kindai University

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Kindai University

Overview
Kindai University’s founding principles are “learning for the real world” and“nurturing intellectual and emotional intelligence,” and in line with this, theUniversity’s educational policy is “to develop creative individuals who have a firm
understanding of reality, hold a historical perspective, keep their feet on the ground,and can demonstrate a critical and challenging spirit.” Through this kind of education,
the University is committed to its educational philosophy of “fostering individuals
who are caring, trustworthy, and respectable.” In AY2020, Kindai University drewup the “Kindai University Medium-Term Plan,” which identified what the University
needs to accomplish over the following five years, and clearly states that theUniversity aims to become a strong global university by developing talented
individuals and conducting world-class research in accordance with the spirit of theUniversity’s founding.
In order to promote the University’s founding spirit mentioned above, theUniversity is actively working to publicize it not only to its internal constituents andthrough its website, but also through online orientation for new students and byproviding current students with opportunities to learn about the University via videocontent. The University also puts efforts into open campuses for prospective students,and holds events involving projects that use products developed independently bystudents and opportunities for hands-on experiments and research, allowing theseprospective students to experience the “learning for the real world” described in thefounding spirit. This is highly commendable as a strength of the University and has
led to enhanced student recruitment.
Furthermore, it is highly commendable that the University is making auniversity-wide contribution to society by taking advantage of the regional
characteristics of each campus, developing research outcomes into commercial
products, as exemplified by bluefin tuna farming, and developing practical products
in collaboration with local companies, as well as actively promoting industryuniversity-government collaboration linked to students’ educational activities under
the Kindai University Liaison Center (KLC, hereinafter the “Liaison Center”). In
order to carry out these social cooperation and contribution activities, it is necessary
to improve faculty members’ educational and research capabilities. To this end, the1Kindai University

University appropriately evaluates faculty members’ performance and provides
incentives based on the results, thereby revitalizing the faculty organization. This too
can be seen as one of the University’s strengths.
In addition to expanding these distinctive initiatives, since 2015, the University
has been implementing its Third Education Reform, which aims to facilitatecontinuous improvement of undergraduate education, to strengthen the capabilities
of undergraduate students, and to guarantee the quality of education to ensure this.
As such, the University is working to establish and promote university reforms andan internal quality assurance system. The University’s internal quality assurance
system consists of the “21st Century Education Reform Committee” and the “21stCentury Research Promotion Committee.” A system has been established whereby
these formulate plans for educational and research activities, respectively, and annual
self-study is conducted for the activities of each department, graduate school, and theCenter for Education Reform. The results are then objectively evaluated by theuniversity-wide Self-Study Committee and reported to the “Kindai University
Agency for Future Strategies” for improvement measures and the planning of ideas
for medium- and long-term educational reforms. Under this system, the University isengaged in improvement activities such as setting a university-wide assessment
policy to promote the visualization of learning outcomes, indicating that theuniversity-wide PDCA cycle is functioning.
In terms of education, the three policies (Diploma Policy (degree award policy),Curriculum Policy (curriculum design and implementation policy), and AdmissionPolicy) were reviewed in AY2015, and efforts are being made to substantiate student
learning by designing a step-by-step and systematic curriculum in each department
and graduate school, as well as by introducing active learning to enhance the contentof classes. In addition, since AY2020 the University has been taking appropriate
measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as providing online counselingand support for students.
However, there are several issues that should be improved. Although the threepolicies have been reviewed as mentioned above, some graduate schools have notdefined these three policies for each of their programs, and in some cases, the criteria
for the examination of dissertations have not been set for individual programs. Thisshould be corrected. In addition, some graduate schools and programs have notdefined the methods and schedules for research supervision, so these need to bedeveloped for graduate education. In addition, some graduate schools and programs
are under capacity, while at the undergraduate level, the ratio of student enrollment
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to the student enrollment cap is high. This should be improved to ensure proper
student quota management.
In the future, the JUAA hopes that the functions of the internal quality
assurance system centered on the Kindai University Agency for Future Strategies will
be verified and developed into an even more effective framework, while efforts are
made to promote the monitoring and evaluation of learning outcomes based on theassessment policy and the functioning of the university-wide PDCA cycle, which willfurther develop the University’s distinctive initiatives and lead to improvements invarious issues.
Notable Strengths
Student Enrollment
 Public relations activities and open campus planning are carried out under theHeadquarters for Strategic Management of the school corporation. Specifically,
numerous events, including projects that use products developed independently
by students and opportunities to experience hands-on experiments and research,
are held at the open campuses, allowing prospective students to experience the“learning for the real world” described in the University’s founding spirit. Inaddition, campus tours are conducted by student volunteers, and students
participate in the events, providing prospective students with an opportunity to
get a closer look at student life. It is commendable that these strategic activities
have led to enhanced student recruitment as well as using hands-on experience
to communicate the University’s founding spirit to prospective students.
Faculty and Faculty Organization
 The University has set out multidimensional and specific assessment categories
for performance evaluation in the areas of education, research, administration,and social activities. These are evaluated by the “Faculty Performance
Evaluation Committee” based on faculty members’ self-evaluations with respect
to these categories. Incentives are given to faculty members with good results,
and the details of the evaluations are also used as basic data for determining
promotions, etc. The evaluation categories can be set according to thecharacteristics of each faculty, and the flexible performance evaluation system,
which includes opportunities for interviews with the deans of faculties andgraduate schools as necessary, has energized the various activities of a diverse
range of faculty members, which is a commendable strength.
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Social Cooperation and Contribution
 Each campus and center is actively engaged in activities such as productdevelopment in collaboration with local companies, taking advantage of thecharacteristics of the local area. For example, in addition to bluefin tuna (Kindaituna) cultivation based on research findings by the Aquaculture ResearchInstitute, the fact that there are many companies with distinctive technologies
located on the Higashi Osaka Campus has led to the establishment of the“Regional Alliance Advanced Research and Education Center (commonlyknown as the Kindai Monozukuri Kobo)” in collaboration with local companies.
This center has developed face masks that show the movement of the mouth(Kindai masks) and distributed them free of charge to the community. In addition,industry-academia-government collaboration is being conducted under theLiaison Center, with students in many faculties in the humanities and sciences
participating in activities that lead to the development of a wide variety ofproducts. It is commendable that the University is systematically developing
social cooperation and social contribution activities that encompass educationalactivities, leading to an increase in public recognition of the University.
Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes The Graduate School of Economics, Graduate School of Agriculture, Graduate
School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Graduate School ofSystems Engineering, and Graduate School of Humanity-Oriented Science andEngineering have not established the criteria for the examination of dissertations
for each program. This should be improved.
Student Enrollment
 The ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap is low at 0.40 for
the Master’s Course of Graduate School of Commerce and 0.27 for the Doctoral
Course of Graduate School of Commerce, 0.15 for the Master’s Course ofGraduate School of Economics, 0.24 for the Doctoral Course of Graduate Schoolof Agriculture, 0.20 for the Doctoral Course of Graduate School of Systems
Engineering, while there are no students enrolled in the Doctoral Course ofGraduate School of Economics. This should be improved to ensure proper
graduate student quota management.
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Recommendation
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes The Graduate School of Agriculture has not established a degree award policy
for each program. This should be corrected to establish such policies and makethem public.
Regarding curriculum design and implementation policies, the Graduate Schoolof Agriculture’s Major in Advanced Bioscience does not set a policy for eachprogram, while the Graduate School of Science and Engineering’s Doctoral
Course of Major in Molecular and Material Engineering and Doctoral Course ofMajor in Innovative Engineering do not indicate their basic approach tocurriculum design. This should be corrected.

A method and schedule for research supervision are not defined as part of theresearch supervision plan for the Master’s Course and Doctoral Courses ofGraduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology. A schedule forresearch supervision is not defined as part of the research supervision plan for
the Doctoral Course of Graduate School of Law, Master’s Course and Doctoral
Course of Graduate School of Economics, Master’s Course and Doctoral
Courses of Graduate School of Pharmacy, and Graduate School of MedicalSciences. This should be corrected so that such schedule is defined and madeclear to students in advance.

Student Enrollment
 Regarding admission policies, the Graduate School of Science and Engineering’s
Major in Science and Doctoral Course of Major in Innovative Engineering, theGraduate School of Agriculture, the Graduate School of Biology-Oriented
Science and Technology’s Major in Biotechnological Science have not set
policies for each program, while that of the Doctoral Course of Graduate Schoolof Pharmacy is the same as its curriculum design and implementation policy.
This should be corrected.
The ratio of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap in the Faculty of
Medicine’s Department of Medicine is high at 1.08. This should be corrected toensure proper undergraduate student quota management.
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