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

Kogakuin 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 Kogakuin University
Notable Strengths
Educational content, methods, and outcome


The School of Global Engineering is intended to foster Engineers who can work in aninternational context, and it has set up two courses to achieve this goal: ECP(Engineering Clinic Program) Abroad and CSGE (Communication Skills for GlobalEngineers) Abroad. The School has instituted a system that says “all students taketraining in foreign universities,” and students not only study the language, but also haveopportunities to study together with local students and cultivate a better understanding ofdifferent cultures. It is commendable that implementing this system is an excellent
means not only to improve communication skills in foreign language but also tocultivate standards and competencies required for global engineers who possess apositive mindset to go abroad and adapt to different cultures.

It is commendable that the Academy—Industry Collaboration Program, which grapples
with the real issues presented in industry, produces good educational outcomes. It offers
an opportunity to master practical skills and develop creativity by seeking an immediate
guidance from an engineer in the industry, and provides enough time to test out a varietyof ideas.

It is commendable that the University employs an excellent assessment system thatinvolves not only the evaluation by the professor but also by the student him/herself. Inthe Graduate School of Engineering, Master's students set objectives in consultation
with the academic advisor each year, and the student reviews his/her achievements inrelation to these objectives at the end of every semester. At the end of the program theAssessment of Research Achievement is evaluated both by the student and the advisor.

Student support

It is commendable that the University engages in systematic career education. TheCareer Design Note has been distributed to all freshmen since 2011 in order for students
to acquire necessary competencies and behaviors for working life from the formal
curriculum and extra-curricular activities. This note is to be used as a portfolio to record
activities to remind the student to cultivate his/her competencies.

It is commendable that the University has promoted workshops that cultivate student’s
technical capabilities and imagination with the intention to foster humanistic engineers
who can be pillars of society. The Students’ Project, which is created in these workshops,
is highly regarded by students. In order to promote voluntary creative work by student,
the University set up the Dream Building Workshop in the Studios and ChemicalLaboratories Building on the Hachioji Campus and the Dream Building Workshop
Annex on the Inume Campus, and provides some funding. Their work has gotten results
in a number of outside contests such as the Solar Car Project, the NHK Robot Contest,
and the Bird Man Contest.

Social cooperation and contribution

It is commendable that the Science Classroom, a science education project, run byKogakuin University, is an excellent effort that offers know-how of science education toeducational institutions across the nation, and facilitates an ever-increasing number ofexchanges between scholastic communities. As a social action work in the area ofscience education, the Science Classroom is the largest science event that takes place at3

any university in Japan. Ninety subject areas are prepared annually. In the year 2012 theevent marked its nineteenth anniversary, with participants from junior high schools, highschools, and local governments. One hundred thousand people in total participated in theevent, with an increase of eight thousand each year.
Administration and financeIt is commendable that the University has largely fulfilled its Basic Purpose Indicators
by setting a middle-term financial plan and by enacting a rolling plan to keep a close
match to the yearly budget to improve the accuracy of the middle-term plan. TheUniversity keeps the good standings in the ratio of financial relations, the “ratio of thefinancial assets to the required reserve fund,” and the “rate of excessive consumption
expenditure carrying-over to the next year,” and it holds a sufficient funding base toachieve the mid-term plan.

Suggestions for Improvement
Educational content, methods, and outcome
The curriculum of the doctoral program of the Graduate School of Engineering does notconsist of appropriate coursework. Considering the purpose of the credit-based degree
granting system, the doctoral program should offer appropriate coursework.

Enrollment
In the Graduate School of Engineering, the ratio of enrolled students to the student
enrollment cap is low at 0.31. These numbers should be improved.

Education and research environmentThe libraries of the Shinjuku and Hachioji campuses are not compatible with theaccessibility standards. These libraries should satisfy the accessibility standards.

Area of Serious Concern
Enrollment
In the First Division of the Faculty of Engineering, the average of the ratios of the last
five-year enrolled freshmen to the freshman admission cap and the ratio of enrolled
students to the student enrollment cap are high at 1.24 and 1.26 in the Department ofElectrical Engineering, and the ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap ishigh at 1.25 in the Department of Information and Communications Engineering. Thesenumbers should be improved.