Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results forProfessional Graduate Business School

Management of Technology Program, Graduate School forManagement of Technology, Nippon Institute of Technology

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Saitama, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2014
Accreditation Status: accredited（Accreditation Period: April.01.2015 – March.31.2020）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results
for the Technology Management Program,the Graduate School of Technology, Nippon Institute of Technology
The Technology Management Program in the Graduate School of Technology
Management (hereafter, the Program) defines its purpose as a professional degree
program “contributing to society through promoting researches on technology
management as well as training high-level professionals who can recognize and solve
problems at middle-ranking small and medium technology businesses by equipping
graduates with basic and practical skills relevant to the field and cultivating
professional ethics through teaching subjects such as corporate management, newenterprise development, entrepreneurship, and project management.” Training
personnel for middle-ranking small and medium businesses in the technology sector, as
mentioned above, is very important considering that such businesses are the basis ofthe Japanese economy. This is a distinctive feature of the Program.
In order to achieve this purpose, wide ranges of subjects related to small andmedium business are offered. For example, in collaboration with the International
Support Division of a national agency, Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises
and Regional Innovation, the subjects: Global Development of Small and Medium
Business, and Case Studies in Global Development of Small and Medium Businesshave been established. Another distinctive feature corresponding to the specificpurpose of the Program is the Research in Technology Management Project (Researchon the Specific Issue), a mandatory subject where students choose their own places of
employment or the corporations where they would like to work and tackle the issues
related to management innovation.
The Program also makes notable efforts to improve teaching methods. For
example, a system for mutual observation of classes for the faculty has been
established and student course evaluations are conducted twice, at mid-term and during
the final class each semester.
Although the Program makes notable efforts to improve the curriculum andmethods of teaching as mentioned above, several important issues still remain thatmust be addressed in order to assure the quality of education.
First, in the past five years the numbers of incoming students has been below thequota of 30 students per year. Securing a stable number of incoming students is an urgent
need from the several perspectives including assuring the educational quality. In order to
respond to this issue, cooperation and collaboration must take place at the university level.
Also, from the perspective of guaranteeing the quality of education, in addition
to securing a stable number of incoming students, the effort to properly administer theadmission policy and the policy on degree award of the Program is key.
In relation to implementation of the policy on degree award, the criteria andmethods of the entrance examination need to be addressed. According to the data fromthe years 2011 to 2013, all applicants were admitted. However, regarding theevaluation methods for the entrance exam, 40 percent of the results are based on theevaluator’s “Opinions and Impressions.” Thus, the subjectivity of the evaluator may bestrongly reflected in the results, and may interfere with the objectivity of evaluation.
This should be improved.
Further, among those who would like to apply for the Program, persons who
have not earned any bachelor’s degree can take a preliminary qualification examinationconsisting of a report, a presentation, and an oral examination, and if an applicant is
considered to have the same level of knowledge and competencies at or above
university graduates, that person is eligible to take the regular entrance examination.
As a result of this rule, nearly 40 percent of incoming students have been nongraduates of universities in the past nine years. However, in the examination for non-3graduates, basic academic capability and knowledge are not verified. This raises
another issue for improvement in order to guarantee the objectivity of entrance
examinations. Non-graduate applicants need to not only pass the pre-qualifying
examination prior to being admitted, but their progress after the admission is also
expected to be followed.
In terms of implementing of the admission policy, the Program is expected toconsider the ways to verify whether the criteria and methods of the entrance
examination are functioning properly within the real context of the selection process.
Meanwhile, regarding the implementation of the policy on degree award,guaranteeing the fairness and strictness of grade evaluations is an issue forimprovement. This point is very important for assuring the substance of study, since
the Program requires a one year term of enrollment to complete the degree and students
are required to study intensively during this time. While the Program claims that theEducational Affairs Section of the faculty council confirmed no abnormal distributionof grades, only one subject gave the grade of “D” among the fifty subjects held in theyear 2013 and the maximum grade “AA” accounted for 46% of all posted grades
according to an evidencing materials. This places doubt on the strictness of evaluation.
In the 2013 Student Achievement Report, there is also a case in which the Program
accepted the credits of a student who did not fulfill the attendance requirement(attending 2/3 of classes, which is the prerequisite for receiving credits). Thus, theprocess of evaluating student progress needs to be examined in a systematic manner. In
addition, to deal with the issues mentioned above, student reports and the student
answer sheets for exams need to be preserved and managed as the basis for after-thefact examination.
While the issues related to the policies on admission and degree award areregarded as the most important areas for improvement, several other issues are to beaddressed in hopes that the Program will develop further.
The Program has several notable features, but a few issues remain. For example,
in the Judicial Affairs and Professional Ethics subject, the contents cover the matter oflegal systems exclusively, but it would be more desirable to expand the content for thepurpose of cultivating the professional ethics of management. The Project Management
Coordinator (PMC) Certification Exam Preparation Course is offered for the purposeof passing the PMC certification exam carried out by the nonprofit organization,
Project Management Association of Japan. The status of this course needs to beclarified and the contents and title of the course need to be reconsidered.
Regarding educational methods, the development of regulations and proceduresfor course changes and the procedure for making claims regarding grades remains anissue.
Regarding the evaluation of educational outcomes, assessment of educational
outcomes of graduates of the Program has not been conducted at this point, nor haveevaluations of graduates by their employers. From the perspective of assuring thequality of education, an organized system to examine educational outcomes frommultiple angles and to reflect on the results of examinations in educational content andmethods is expected to be established.
Regarding personnel support, there is only one full-time staff member, and theadministrative organization is expected to be bolstered. Also, since 2014 a tenured
faculty (professor) has taken the responsibility of the chief clerk, but the name of “chiefclerk” is not appropriate for the actual content of the work. The job duties need to beclarified and the name of the position should be changed.
Japan University Accreditation Association expects that by properly responding
to the issues above, the Program will achieve its specific purpose to a high degree andcontribute to the development of our country’s economy and society.