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

Senzoku Gakuen College of Music

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Kanagawa, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2022
Accreditation Status: accredited（Accreditation Period: April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2030）

Senzoku Gakuen College of Music

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Senzoku Gakuen College of Music
Overview
Senzoku Gakuen College of Music sets forth the educational philosophy of“cultivating creative talents with rich personalities,” and defines its purpose as“teaching and researching specialized arts and sciences in depth; developingadvanced capabilities; accumulating broad and profound knowledge; nurturing
individuals with character based on the founding spirit; and cultivating humanresources with hearts full of humility and love for others, noble characters,international perspectives, and the ability to act, thereby contributing to theadvancement of culture.” Based on this purpose, the Faulty of Music and theGraduate School of Music have established the objectives of human resource
development as well as education and research. In AY2019, the Senzoku Gakuen
Medium-term Plan 2020-2024 was formulated with a focus on the seven goals of“improving the quality of education and research,” “steadily accepting students fromvarious backgrounds,” “strengthening student support,” “maintaining and improving
the educational environment,” “promoting social cooperation and contribution,”“engaging in international efforts,” and “optimizing management and finances.” The
College is working to improve its management in line with the plan.
As for the College’s education, the Faculty of Music and the Graduate
School of Music have established diploma and curriculum policies based on theCollege’s purpose, founding spirit, and guiding principles, and designed the curricula
consisting of required specialized subjects, elective specialized subjects for eachcourse, elective specialized subjects for all courses, and general education subjects.
The faculty and the graduate school have also adopted assessment policies to evaluate
student learning outcomes based on indicators, and to confirm the achievements ofthe curriculum and diploma policies using student surveys on satisfaction at the timeof graduation and other means. A GPA (grade point average) system has been
introduced for course guidance by academic advisors (AAs) and other staff, andunder the guidance of academic producers (APs), the AAs offer students under theircharge advice about campus life, including course guidance, until graduation. It isnotable that this system effectively supports students in both their studies and campus
life. However, the curricula allow students to graduate without taking any general
education subjects in liberal arts, and the College is strongly recommended to design1Senzoku Gakuen College of Music

the curricula in accordance with the diploma policy stipulating that degrees areawarded to “individuals with well-rounded character traits who have acquired
sufficient specialized knowledge, skills, and versatility.” Moreover, the syllabuses
contain inadequate descriptions of lesson plans. The same issue, along with theCollege’s inadequate liberal arts education, was pointed out in JUAA’s previous
certified evaluation and accreditation results, and the following review results of theCollege’s improvement report also noted insufficient improvement efforts. The
College needs to appropriately address these protracted issues.
Regarding the College’s internal quality assurance, the Internal QualityAssurance Promotion Committee headed by the president was formed in AY2020 toformulate policies and establish a system for internal quality assurance. The system
for inspecting and assessing each division is overseen by the Self-Study Committee
in charge of the faculty and graduate school. With the vice president serving aschairperson, the committee checks the inspection and evaluation items, instructs theevaluators to conduct inspections, and receives and reports the results to the faculty
council. The committee decides on the key inspection and evaluation items every
academic year before conducting self-studies, but these items are limited to certain
areas and do not cover all activities of the College. In addition, the above issues ofan inadequate liberal arts education and insufficient curriculum descriptions wereraised in JUAA’s previous evaluation results, but little progress has been made since.
These situations indicate that the College is far from properly operating its internal
quality assurance system. Moreover, the College has inspected and assessed thefaculty council as a key self-study item and specified its direction as an “open facultycouncil,” but council membership was restricted following a revision of the schoolregulations. This inconsistent move is considered contrary to the College’s
improvement efforts. The College should conduct effective inspections andassessments on the appropriateness and responsibilities of the faculty council
members under the revised regulations. Based on the results, the College is strongly
urged to assure the quality of its education in order for the faculty council to fulfill
the necessary role in helping the president make appropriate decisions. The College’smanagement issues should be addressed as well.
There are several more issues the College needs to address. In terms offaculty development (FD), the College has not undertaken initiatives aimed atenhancing its research activities and promoting social contribution and other efforts.
This situation should be addressed with appropriate FD activities implemented toimprove the curricula, lesson content, and teaching methods as well as clarify the2Senzoku Gakuen College of Music

overall policy for upgrading the faculty organization. As for the College’s student
enrollment, the department has set freshman enrollment caps, but education programs
are based on courses and majors, and the target freshman enrollment number for eachcourse is actually decided by the president. This issue should be addressed withspecific standards and rules established. Moreover, the College’s faculty consists
primarily of non-tenured members, and most AAs, who play an important role in theCollege’s education, are part-time lecturers. From the perspective of improving theeducational environment, the College should review the appropriateness of freshmanenrollment in each course, faculty organization, and faculty development.
The College has increased the number of courses offered in the department
in response to more diversified learning content, and plans to raise its enrollment cap
starting in AY2023. With quality assurance of the College’s education becoming
increasingly important with this expansion, the College is expected to address theseissues by enhancing its distinctive learning and student support, while establishing amore organically connected network among the president, faculty council, faculty
and courses, and internal quality assurance organizations.
Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes

As students are allowed to graduate without taking any general education
subjects, the College should review the curriculum and provide course guidance
for students to achieve the learning outcomes stated in the diploma policy
stipulating that degrees are awarded to “individuals with well-rounded character
traits who have acquired sufficient specialized knowledge, skills, and versatility.”
The same issue was pointed out in JUAA’s previous evaluation results, but little
progress was confirmed when the improvement report was submitted. The
College should not ignore this issue.

The College’s syllabuses offer inadequate lesson plan descriptions, with thelatest version still containing overly simplified explanations in some sections.
The same issue was raised in JUAA’s previous evaluation results, but little
progress was confirmed when the improvement report was submitted. The
College is implementing such measures as having the syllabuses checked by athird party and holding workshops on syllabus analysis, but these approaches are3

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insufficient to address the issue. The College should design syllabuses thatprovide the necessary information for students to take courses and prepare
lessons.
Student Enrollment
Courses established under the department do not set freshman enrollment caps,
but the president specifies the target freshman enrollment number for each course
every academic year. This situation should be addressed with clear standards andrules established.

Faculty and Faculty Organization
The College has not conducted FD activities aimed at enhancing its research
activities and promoting social contribution and other efforts. With FD activities
with such aims considered important to upgrade the entire faculty organization,
the College should not only improve its curricula, lesson content, and teaching
methods, but also formulate a comprehensive policy in a systematic,
multifaceted way to enhance the quality of its faculty organization before
appropriately implementing FD activities.

University Management and FinanceIn the AY2019 self-study, the faculty council’s role was listed as a key inspection
and assessment item, and the College therefore set the objective of making thefaculty council “open.” But council membership was restricted as the school
regulations revised in April 2022 stipulate that “the faculty council consists offull-time professors, associate professors, and lecturers primarily assigned tomanagement tasks.” This revision has prevented some faculty members fromexpressing their views at council meetings. This issue should be addressed byreviewing the faculty council’s role and the appropriateness of the revision for
the faculty council to play the necessary role in helping the president makeappropriate decisions.

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Recommendation
Internal Quality Assurance
The Self-Study Committee decides on the key inspection and assessment items
every academic year for conducting self-study activities, but these items only
apply to certain areas, with the self-study of educational, research, and otheractivities failing to clarify the notable strengths, issues, and suggestions forimprovement as stated in the Internal Quality Assurance Policy. In addition, theCollege has failed to fully address the issues regarding curriculum design andteaching methods pointed out in JUAA’s previous evaluation results, and theimprovement efforts based on the self-study results have lost their rationality andconsistency with the passage of time. This situation indicates that the College’s
internal quality assurance system is far from functioning effectively. The College
must address these issues by improving the accuracy of its self-study, clarifying
the roles and coordination of the organizations involved in internal quality
assurance, and operating the university-wide PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cyclefrom the perspective of assuring and enhancing the quality of its education.

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