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

Nihon Fukushi University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Aichi, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2017
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.01.2018 – March.31.2025）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Nihon Fukushi University
Overview
Nihon Fukushi University (hereafter, the University), which originated as Chubu Junior Collegeof Social Work established in 1953, was opened by its founder in 1957 as the first university thatoffered four-year courses and had a faculty of social welfare in Japan, based on the spirit ofbenevolence, mercy, and fraternity as its school spirit. The University works toward theenhancement of education and research activities and aims to be a “university that causes
welfare to emerge” in order to address various issues in modern society. It continues todevelop as a comprehensive university of welfare with the following seven faculties and four
graduate schools: the Faculty of Social Welfare, the Faculty of Child Development, and theFaculty of Healthcare Management at the Mihama Campus in Mihama-cho, Chita-gun, Aichi
Prefecture; the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Handa Campus in Handa City; the Faculty ofNursing, the Faculty of Economics, and the Faculty of International Welfare Development at
the Tokai Campus in Tokai City; and the Graduate School of Social Welfare, the Graduate
School of ,Health and Social Services Management, the Graduate School of International
Social Development, and the Graduate School of Social Well-Being and Development at theNagoya Campus in Nagoya City. the University also established the Faculty of Sports
Science at the Mihama Campus in 2017.
Since the previous accreditation review conducted by Japan University Accreditation
Association (JUAA), the University has promoted improvement and reforms by reviewing andevaluating matters such as education and research, governance, and social contribution throughthe operation of the PDCA cycle in the University Management System, and by sharing theresults of those reviews and evaluations among the members. In the Second Term University
Mid-term Plan for the period from 2015 to 2020the University set “a qualitative shift ofeducation and its substantiation.” as its basic strategy - and has promoted activities such asestablishing a financial basis and strengthening organizational governance in addition to thefive priority strategies including “quality assurance and reforms for a qualitative shift ineducation.”
The University’s distinguishing efforts include an initiative to improve the quality offaculty members through measures such as a review system that obligates full-time teaching
staff to undergo an education and research activity review every five years. This review
system is designed to enhance their educational and research activities. Furthermore, through2

cooperation between the Inter-Departmental Education Center and each faculty, communityoriented subjects have been introduced into the curriculum to foster “fukushi meisters” whocan play a leading role in contributing to the establishment of a sustainable community. TheUniversity’s efforts to support disabled students are also commendable. The University iscommitted to improving students’ support capabilities and boosting their motivation throughvarious efforts such as providing regular curricular subjects relating to support for those withvisual and hearing disabilities. In addition, the University also delivers to the faculty video
content summarizing what consideration must be given to disabled students during lecturesand on other occasions. It is commendable that the University has established an independent
support system among students by ensuring students and staff have a thorough understandingof student support in a variety of ways.
However, the issue remains with regard to the management of the student admission
capacity (quota) of the Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty ofInternational Welfare Development, and the Graduate School of Social Well-Being andDevelopment. Also, among other faculties, part of the Faculty of Child Development, theFaculty of International Welfare Development, and the Faculty of Healthcare Management
have higher limits of credits that students can register for in a year, so that needs to be rectified
in light of the purpose of the credit system. Other issues that require improvement include
curriculum design at the Graduate School of Social Well-Being and Development,
clarification of dissertation or thesis examination criteria, and clarification of the ideal student
profiles in the student admission policy. In addition, improvement is also required with respect
to the placement of full-time staff with expert knowledge at its libraries (branch libraries). The
University is expected to address these issues together with the enhancement of theverification system.
Notable Strengths
Faculty and Faculty Organization
The University established the Faculty Member Qualification Reassessment System,
which obligates full-time faculty members to undergo an education and research activity
review every five years. It is commendable that that system works to improve the qualityof faculty members and enhance education and research activities by initiatives such as
having the dean of each faculty give guidance to individual faculty members who arelikely to fail to satisfy the review criteria for education and research achievements and2encourage those faculty members to improve performance.
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
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The Inter-Departmental Education Center and each faculty work together to promote
university-wide education for regional community cooperation in order to foster “fukushimeisters” who are capable of playing an active part with a perspective of welfare in a
broad sense where the scope of traditional social welfare is expanded and multiple fields
are related to and coordinated with each other. Since the adoption of the Center ofCommunity (COC) in 2014, the Center has provided common subjects in which studentslearn basic community knowledge and important community issues, and each faculty has
designated specialized subjects that are related to the community and correspond to thatfaculty’s specialties as “community-oriented subjects”, and systematic education isprovided by combining those subjects. Those subjects provide diverse field work and,through reflections each year, cultivate the ability to view community issues from aperspective of welfare and actively solve issues. These initiatives are aimed at realizing theUniversity’s educational objective, “leaders who contribute to the establishment of asustainable community “from a university-wide perspective by fostering “fukushimeisters”.

Student SupportThe Student Support Center’s “Supporting Students with Disabilities” supports students
with disabilities and fosters students who engage in supporting students with disabilities,
and also strives to establish an independent support system among students throughactivities such as matching students in need of support with volunteer students. In order tofoster volunteer students, the Student Support Center strives to enhance the ability andwillingness of students by providing regular curricular subjects related to support forstudents with visual and hearing disabilities and establishing an activity incentive scheme
for volunteers. Moreover, it is commendable that, as a welfare university, the University
implements initiatives to ensure students and staff have a thorough understanding ofstudent support in various ways including delivering to faculty members video contentssummarizing what consideration must be given with respect to each disability at lecturesand on other occasions.

2Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
The curriculum of the Graduate School of Social Well-Being and Development (doctoralprogram) does not appropriately combine research work and course work, so it is expectedthat graduate school will provide details of education that are appropriate for that programin light of the purpose of the program-based graduate school system.

The maximum number of credits for which students can register in a year is 54 credits inthe first and second years and 50 credits in the third and fourth years at the Department ofChild Development of the Faculty of Child Development, and 54 credits in the second
year for students who have transferred to the Department of Clinical Psychology in theirsecond year. Also, the maximum number of credits is high at 60 in the third year forstudents who transferred to the Faculty of International Welfare Development in their thirdyear and the first year for students who transferred to the Faculty of Healthcare
Management. This issue needs to be rectified in light of the purpose of the credit system.

In the Doctor’s Degree Program Healthcare Management Major at the Graduate School ofSocial Well-Being and Development, dissertation or thesis examination criteria are notclearly shown to students, so that needs to be rectified and the criteria should be clarified inmaterials such as the Course Guidelines/Syllabus.

Enrollment
The admission policy of the Doctor’s Degree Program International Social Development
Major at the Graduate School of Social Well-Being and Development does not clearlyshow ideal student profiles. This should be rectified.

In the Department of Human Care Engineering at the Faculty of Health Sciences, theaverage of ratios of freshman enrollment to the freshman enrollment cap and the ratio ofstudents admitted to admission capacity over the last five years are low at 0.81 and 0.86,respectively. This issue should be addressed.

In the Doctoral Program at the Graduate School of Social Well-Being and Development,

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the ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap is high at 2.61. This issue
should be addressed.
Education and Research EnvironmentNo full-time staff with expert knowledge has been assigned to the libraries at the Handa
Campus, the Tokai Campus or the Nagoya Campus, This issue should be addressed.

Area of Serious Concern
Enrollment
The average of ratios of freshman enrollment to the freshman enrollment cap over the last
five years and the ratios of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap are low at 0.63
and 0.65, respectively, in the Department of Economics of the Faculty of Economics, and0.54 and 0.51, respectively, in the Department of International Welfare Development ofthe Faculty of International Welfare Development. These should be improved.