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

Komazawa University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2013
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period:April.01.2014 – March.31.2021）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Komazawa University
Notable Strengths
Enrollment
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It is commendable that the Admissions Office of Komazawa University (hereafter,the University) establishes a functional university-wide system of reviewing
entrance examinations, gathering data based on the type of the entranceexamination and students’ academic performance after admission, that they
discusses the results with the Faculty and Departments, and that they bring theresults to the Entrance Examination Committee to make improvements. TheAdmissions Office conducts the a follow-up study on students’ academic
performances after admission to the University by sharing data on the yield rates oflast four years and the academic performance data from the last six years
depending on the type of entrance examination. It also analyzes the correlation
between entrance examinations and employment status.

Social cooperation and contributionIt is commendable that the Komazawa University Sunday Lecture Series, which
has a fifty-year history and is operated mainly by the Zen Institute, has anincreasing number of participants every year and has became as a regular social
activity in accordance with the founding spirit of the University. It is alsocommendable that the University, as a Buddhist institution located in a residentialarea, is making unique social contributions such as holding Buddhist ceremonies
conducted by the students of the Faculty of Buddhism for neighborhood residents
and engaging in the Clean Campaign neighborhood cleanup program.

Suggestions for Improvement
Educational content, methods, and outcome

The graduate schools do not clearly define their degree-granting policies and theirpolicies for designing and implementing their curriculums. The graduate schools
should set these policies and make them public.

The faculties do not widely publicize their degree-granting policies and theirpolicies for designing and implementing their curriculums. The policies should be
widely publicized in the media and in formats accessible from outside of the school,
including formats that reach applicants to the University.

The maximum number of credits students can register for per year has been set
high at 54 for the first year and the second year students and at 58 for the third year
and the fourth year students in the Faculty of Buddhism, at 64 for all students inthe Social Welfare Major in the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Letters,
at 50 for the first year students in the Department of Law, and at 56 for the firstyear students and at 60 for the second to the fourth year students in the Faculty ofGlobal Media Studies. These departments should improve the situation inaccordance with the purpose of having a credit system. Also, the maximum numberis set at 58 for the second year students in the Faculty of Economics. This also
should be improved.

3In the Faculty of Business Administration, the Faculty of Health Sciences, theGraduate Division of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate Division of HealthSciences, the contents of the syllabi vary in their specificities, especially thedescriptions of class schedules that differ according to instructors.

No Graduate Division except the Graduate Division of Legal Research andTraining has clarified the criteria for examining degree-seeking dissertations.
These criteria should be clarified in the student handbook and made public.

Enrollment
The average of the ratios of last five years of enrolled freshmen to the freshmanadmission cap has been high at 1.25 in the Department of Buddhist Studies in theFaculty of Buddhism and the Department of Japanese Literature in the Faculty ofLetters. These numbers should be improved.

The ratio of transfer students to the transfer student admission cap is low at 0.20 in
the Department of Zen Buddhist Studies and at 0.24 in the Department of Buddhist
Studies in the Faculty of Buddhism, at 0.02 in the Department of Japanese
Literature, at 0.02 in the Department of Geography, at 0.03 in the Department ofHistory, at 0.04 in the Department of Sociology, and at 0.09 in the Department ofPsychology in the Faculty of Letters, at 0.24 in the Department of Economics, at0.19 in the Department of Commerce, and at 0.19 in the Department ofContemporary Applied Economics in the Faculty of Economics, at 0.12 in theDepartment of Law and at 0.11 in the Department of Political Science in theFaculty of Law, at 0.45 in the Department of Business Administration and at 0.39in the Department of Marketing Management in the Faculty of Business
Administration, at 0.20 in the Department of Radiological Sciences in the Facultyof Health Sciences, and at 0.67 in the Department of Global Media in the Facultyof Global Media Studies. These numbers should be improved.

In the Graduate Division of Law, the ratio of enrolled students to the student
enrollment cap is low at 0.25 in the Master's program and there are no students
enrolled in the doctoral program. This situation should be improved. Also, in theGraduate Division of Legal Research and Training, the ratio of enrolled students tothe student enrollment cap is low at 0.46, and should be improved.