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

Kobe College

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Hyogo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2015
Accreditation Status: Accredited（Accreditation Period: April.01.2016 – March.31.2023）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Kobe College
Overview
Kobe College (hereafter, the College) was founded in 1875 under the name the “Girls’School.” In 1948, Kobe College was established as a college with a single faculty in theSchool of Letters. Thereafter, the College established and reorganized faculties anddepartments as well as graduate schools. Currently, the College has three faculties: theSchool of Letters, the School of Music, and the School of Human Sciences. The College
also has three graduate schools: the School of Letters, the School of Human Sciences,and the School of Music. The College campus is located in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo
Prefecture, and has carried out education and research activities based on its purpose.
After its accreditation review by Japan University Accreditation Association(JUAA) in 2008, the College has reviewed the extent to which its declared mission has
been embraced by each entity of the College, as well as the degree of implementation ofits education, research, and student support based on the mission of the College. The
College has improved the issues, mainly through its Self Study Committee, by setting
the Midterm Objectives and Plan which was in effect from 2011 to 2015.
The College has several unique features. The School of Music has implemented
outreach activities intended to make contributions to Japanese society for many years.
The faculty and staff members have worked together to offer career support to students
from their third-year until they complete their studies. By establishing the English
Education Research Center, the College has made English language education available
to students from departments other than the Department of English and has put into
place a program for students with higher English abilities. Moreover, in order toenhance its liberal arts education, the College has established a program covering
specialized areas and a wider range of academic fields. The College has also establishedinter-faculty programs, such as the program for career design.
Despite its progress, the College still has several issues to address. For example,
the quality of descriptive content in syllabi varies among faculty members, and theCollege has not set a policy on degree award in each graduate school. In the future, it isexpected that the College will further realize its purpose through self-examination by
the Self Study Committee and enact the improvements suggested by the College
Evaluation Council.
Notable Strengths
Social Cooperation and Contribution

It is commendable that the College has made contributions to the local community
through outreach activities conducted by the School of Music. These outreachactivities aim to enrich the music experiences of local children and include musicactivities in the local hospital and the Workshop for Making Music for Children.
Furthermore, the graduates of the College who had experiences with the outreachactivities continue to participate in the local initiatives.

Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
While the policy on degree award of the entire graduate school is stated clearly, each3school does not have its own policy on degree award. Each graduate school should
formulate its own policy for both master’s and doctoral programs respectively.
In all schools and graduate schools, the contents of the syllabi vary amng faculty
members. The syllabi should provide helpful information for students.

In the doctoral programs, some students complete all the requirements except
dissertation, and leave the College before completing their dissertation requirement
within the time limit set by the College. Later, when these students submit theirdissertations, even though they do not have enrollment status, they are granted
doctoral degrees in the same manner as those students continuously enrolled. This is
an inappropriate use of the system that should be corrected. In accordance with thepurpose of having doctoral programs, the College should create measures to enhance
degree completion within the required time frame.

Enrollment
The ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap is high at 1.20 in theDepartment of Biosphere Sciences in the School of Human Sciences, and while theDepartment of Music has a transfer admission quota, there are no transfer students
admitted. These numbers should be improved.