Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results forProfessional Graduate Business School

Department of Industrial Technology and Innovation, Graduate
School of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture andTechnology

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: National

Location: Tokyo, 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 Department of Industrial Technology and Innovation, the Graduate Schoolof Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
The Department of Industrial Technology and Innovation in the Graduate School ofEngineering (hereafter, the Department) sets its mission as training personnel with thedeep academic knowledge and high-level skills required of highly specialized
professionals who can promote innovation in industrial technology. It sets its particularpurpose as training competitive “engineers/researchers who understand management” or“entrepreneurs who understand technology” by offering training in both technology
management and research and development through advanced engineering studies andthe formulation of practical business plans. The Program’s purpose is clearly indicatedat the beginning of its promotional brochure and application materials, and in theadmission policy as well as on the web page. Through opportunities such as the open
campus and meetings to explain the entrance examination, the Department makes
information about itself directly available to prospective students.
In order to achieve the particular purpose mentioned above, the Department
makes specific efforts in training technology personnel who promote technologicalinnovation by polishing skills in technology management and in research anddevelopment. Specifically, it trains “engineers/researchers who understand management”
and “entrepreneurs who understand technology” through advanced engineering researchand the formulation of practical business plans.
However, some problems are evident. When discussing the purpose, to train“engineers/researchers who understand management,” the content and the level of“understanding” are not clearly defined. Therefore, how the curriculum affects students,
how the intended competencies are developed, and what the relationship is between thecurriculum and the intended image of personnel, i.e., “engineers/researchers whounderstand management,” are unclear. In other words, the basic concepts and ideas
regarding “management education” have not been sufficiently examined.
For example, in the innovation subject group, three classes are offered for eachof four industrial courses; Issues in Technology, Issues in Technological Development,and Issues in Industry. In this subject group, it is aimed that the relationship between
this subject group and the management subject group becomes clearer through acquiring
specialized knowledge in industrial technology; and students learn systematically about
Technological Strategy as the core knowledge of technology management in relation toResearch and Development Administration, Innovation Administration, and IntellectualProperty Administration in four industrial technology courses. Specifically, fourindustrial technology courses are Biotechnology, Environmental Materials, AdvancedMachinery, and Information Processing. These courses, however, do not correspond toareas in industries, but are in fact sub-areas of engineering. In the four industrialtechnology courses, then, students only learn technologies already used or slated to beused in various industries, but not the structure of the technology constituting theindustry or the relationship between the technologies and the market. Further, whilebasic classes such as Accounting and Marketing are taught in the management subject
group, classes on current research on technology management are not offered, and we
did not observe any effort to teach the relationship between management andtechnology in the curriculum. Also, regarding the educational instructions and thelearning outcomes of the students, scholarship in the management field is not
sufficiently reflected, and very few specialized books in the management field are foundin the study room for students or in the university library.
In terms of faculty specialization, while almost all of the published papers by thefull-time faculty belong to the field of engineering, only a few faculty present papers atacademic meetings related to management. Further, none of the faculty teaching

3management have published papers in academic journals in the field of management orpresented their research to the international academy in the field of management. While
the research in technology management has progressed rapidly in recent years, theDepartment pays little attention to these new findings in the curriculum.
In the meantime, the number of adult working students has been decreasing
since becoming a part of the Division of Engineering. From 2012 to 2014, the ratios ofenrolled adult working student to the incoming student admission cap have beenhovering around 10%. In addition, among those who applied directly fromundergraduate programs, most are from the Tokyo University of Agriculture andTechnology (hereafter, TUAT). TUAT easily satisfies the basic required conditions fora university because it has well-equipped facilities and provides good care for student
life. Indeed, it is in a good location, with a nearby railway station and a beautiful
campus. However, it cannot be highly evaluated as a professional graduate school inthis field because currently, a great majority of admitted students are from the Facultyof Engineering in TUAT. All of these students have chosen the Technology
Development Practical Program and take one of four industrial technology courses.
We offer the following suggestions to address these concerns. First, based on thediploma policy of the Department, the structure of curriculum needs to be reconsidered
in order to carry out the basic mission of a professional graduate school in this field.
Second, to bridge the Department’s education between theory and practice, theorganization of full-time faculty needs to be formulated in order to achieve the basic
mission of a professional graduate school. These two points must be improved
immediately. To further improve these issues, it is necessary to establish an educational
content and methods based on the basic ideas to achieve the particular purpose of theDepartment, and to do this, it is necessary to create a mid-range and long-range visionand policy for the Department. Additionally, since internal review within theDepartment may not lead to immediate improvement, a specific improvement planshould be formulated by inviting the opinions of external experts in order to carry out
the basic mission of a professional graduate school in the field of management.