To Attainthe International
Standard for
Dental Education

Program for
Raising Standards ofDental Education Utilizing
Integrative Functions
Program for Promoting Inter-University Collaborative Educationby the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2012

Program for Raising Standards of Dent

Common Concerns Among 2
Dental Universities and Schools i

Educational Resources with Distinctive Features at Thre
Niigata University, Tohoku University, Hi

Niigata
University

Completed

Development and provis
for an integrated mode
Development and provis
Learning) educational
instruction in oral healthEver Higher
Quality
Cooperative Collaborative

Collaborative Educational Platform■ Collaborative educational planning/proposals■ Comprehensive educational system with transferable
accreditation for coursework■ Collaborative Faculty Development education planning/proposals/implementation■ Summer School programs■ Establishment of mutually-accredited
elective courses

TohokuUniversity

Provision of program for training researchers;
Development and provision of program for linking dentalengineering (extradisciplinary integrated model);Development of program for clinical training instruction tomeet current needs

Internal Evaluating
Committee(Self-conﬁrming/self-evaluating)External Evaluating
Committee(Overseas/Domestic Practioners)

Evaluatory
Indices

Sharing ofIssues/Achievements

Stakeholders■ Participating students/number of instructors■ Number of collaborative educational programs■ Surveys of student evaluations/Ratio of post-graduate candidates■ Comprehensive evaluation checks, etc.

Japa
Educ

For Socie■ Information dis■ Return on rese
■ Provision of h

Network for Implementing Collaboration
To promote this program, a joint educational platform, the “Collaborative Educational Platform Committee” is to beestablished. This will comprise the deans of the three university dental departments, the academic heads as well as board
members of the Japanese Dental Education Association and committee members from other related bodies. As
stakeholders, these persons will carry out management of the program, evaluations, and oﬃcial announcements as theywork together to further the operations. The tri-university joint program will be implemented with the establishment of fourWorking Groups (1) Working Group for developing educational evaluating methods; 2) Working Group for Joint Faculty
Development/Workshops; 3) Working Group for surveying the latest trends in education; 4) Working Group for mutual
evaluations) serving this Committee in aiming for the development of educational and evaluation methodologies.

tal Education Utilizing Integrative Functions

29in Japan

Training Dental Practitioners
to meet the needs of today’schanging society

ee Institutes of Higher Education:
iroshima University

sion of educational resources
el of basic clinical training;sion of PBL (Problem-Basedl resources; Provision for
h/social welfare issues.

Various Working Groups aiming for the developmentof educational and evaluation methodologies

Working Group for developing educational
evaluating methods
Working Group for Joint Faculty
Development/Workshops
Working Group for surveying the latest
trends in education
Working Group for mutual evaluationsHiroshima
University

Targeting 150
candidates every year
for implementing

Development and provision of program forinternationalized instruction; Provision ofprogram for short-term overseas study;
Provision of educational program in high-level,industry-leading techniques

instruction to create
individual all-roundoral health practitioners
with all-inclusive

anese Dental
cation Association

techniques/technicalskills

Anticipated Outcomes

ety/Citizens

For Dental Educationssemination
earch achievements
high-quality dental care

■ Nation-wide penetration■ Standardizing of dental education■ Guaranteed quality of instruction

Network for Evalutions, etc.
Evaluations will be carried out by both internal and external evaluating committees.
The Internal Evaluating Committee will implement regular (yearly) surveys for
self-conﬁrmation and self-evaluation. It will comprise the Deans of the dental
departments of the three universities as well as board members of the Japanese
Dental Education Association as stakeholders. In addition, the External Evaluating
Committee will comprise practitioners outside the three universities as well aspracticing instructors in the ﬁeld of dental education from overseas to carry out theabove evaluations (at the end of the third year and at the conclusion of the ﬁnal year).

“Program for Promoting Inter-University Collaborative Education”
by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
in 2012; Selected Approach
Participating Universities: Niigata University (Representing Institution),
Tohoku University, Hiroshima University

Intended Goals and IndicesTraining Dental Specialists equippedwith essential skills in clinical practice● All graduates will have acquired the skills

speciﬁed in the contents of the clinicalpractice oﬀered in the Dental Model CoreCurriculum● All graduates will complete the Integrated
Educational Model for Simulating Clinical
Practice and be equipped with
fundamental clinical skills before theirclinical practicum commences.
● Enhancing of tutorial PBL instruction toensure that over 80% of students respondaﬃrmatively to a survey that they haveself-awareness of skills for pursuing lifelong
education.

Fostering the Next Generation ofDental Researchers

Anticipated Outcomes
Enabling the training of oral health care
professionals who contribute toimprovements in the oral health care of all
citizens by aiming for a high level offundamental clinical oral healthinstruction/clinical practice together withthe development of lifelong education inProblem Based Learning skills for
identifying and solving challenges.
Developing research capabilities in aseamless program that fosters such skills
from the undergraduate level on andenables the training of research-minded
dental students for the purpose ofincreasing the number of candidates
progressing on to graduate studies. This,
along with the recruitment of greaternumbers of the research fellow supportedby the Japan Society for the Promotion willlink with the training of researchers toshoulder the future of oral health studies.

● Ensuring more than 90% complete

post-graduate degrees● Annually employ Special Research Fellows

Cultivating International and SocietalOutlooks● Seek to have up to 20% of students haveoverseas study experience, including
short-term stays● Increase by 20% the number of students
specializing in new ﬁelds of dentistry such as
dysphagia rehabilitation and oral engineering

Development of Evaluation Methods
and Educational Ability● Ensure more than 80% of faculty experience

Faculty Development/Professional Workshops● Following two years after this program’s

inception, continue to have oﬃcial reportsby the three universities of its achievements
to stakeholders at academic conferences(Japanese Dental Education Association)

Working toward the training of humanresources able to take leading roles in theﬁelds of international oral health care andhospital settings, through the introductionof Future Global Leadership Program, thus
enabling the fostering of internationalawareness.
Make possible a large pool of oral healthcare professionals able to work actively inan aging society, one of the social demandsof these times. This will be done by
developing and sharing in an educational
program which incorporates study in socialwork and oral health, hitherto lacking in theﬁeld of dental education.
Ensuring high quality dental instruction as
well as national guarantees for the qualityof dental education by developing methods
for evaluating training skills that are special
features of dental education as well as forobjective evaluations of PBL instruction,
implementing these on a nation-wide basis
in tandem with cooperating toward
improved instructional capabilities.

B a ck gr oundIn 2009, the Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science and Technology compiled andreleased its ﬁrst report on the “Plan for Training Dental Professionals Equipped with Recognized
Abilities in Clinical PracticeThis report noted the following problems and issues in dental education:● A decline in both clinical practice and clinical abilities on graduation from dental departments

due to the streamlining of curricula;●The need for augmenting educational resources for implementing seamless dental instruction;●The need for ensuring outstanding candidates;●The need for fostering the next generation of dental researchers.

In response to these, the following recommendations were made:1) Ensuring of necessary clinical capabilities for dental professionals;
2) Implementation of a seamless course of instruction to train outstanding dental practitioners;
3) Ensuring the application of outstanding scholars intending to answer the social demands fordental practicioners;
4) Training of researchers for pioneering work in the ﬁeld of oral health care.
In addition to these, other areas of concern were indicated. These included a lagging behind ininternational and domestic standards for dental education, and disparities among institutions
arising from the lack of accreditation system in dental education in Japan.
This report indicated the urgency for resolving these issues in ensuring quality of dental education.

P u r pose
The purpose of this project is ultimately to aim for higher quality in dental education. This will bedone by utilizing the existing educational and research networks that have been created andmanaged so that the three institutions of higher learning (Niigata University, Tohoku University,Hiroshima University) can jointly share their particular educational resources and thus augment eachother’s dental education. In addition, by communicating with each other their accomplishments andcarrying out mutually strict, objective evaluations, this project will serve to standardize dental
education practices. This will contribute toward ensuring the quality of oral health care in the futureeven as it aims to bring the standards of oral health care in Japan to internationally recognized levels.

O u tl i ne
To achieve the goals of the project, the three universities will ﬁrst establish a “Collaborative
Educational Platform” which will serve as a forum for promoting educational improvement among them.
As practical measures for planning and managing this project, the Collaborative Educational Platform
will sponsor faculty development programs and direct exchange among those faculty members incharge. It will implement the following actions for the three universities to achieve together the goalsof the project:●The development, provision, implementation, and improvement of outstanding educational materials

for dentistry;●The development of Problem-Based Learning for identifying and solving problems;●The provision of distinctive, specialized instruction (exchanging of lectures, courses);●The implementation of externships--student exchange--in the ﬁeld of dentistry;●The development of objective methods for evaluations.

Schedule for Implementation by YearYearGoals

Plans Implemented
Establishment of Collaborative Educational Platform(Designated Faculty, Appointment of Temporary Instructors)● Clariﬁcation of primary issues with stakeholders● Sponsoring of Kick-oﬀ Symposium (Ascertain of current situation/Clariﬁcation of problems)● Conﬁrmation among the three universities of each other’s curricula, challenging issues● Sponsoring of joint Faculty Development Seminars, Workshops● Annual internal evaluation● Survey of the latest trends in oral health education/evaluation methods● Publication of pamphlet● Creation of a homepage/information dissemination●2012

Preparations forproject
implementation

Coordination of joint
education, Development
2013

of teaching materials,Investigative survey ofevaluation methods

Provision, enhancement, and development of shared teaching materials
Pilot lectures/ﬁeld work in integrating coursework(Improvements based on survey results)● Presentations of joint research results regarding instruction● Program Symposium (Niigata University)● Annual internal evaluation● Development/research for evaluation methods● Sponsorship of joint Faculty Development Seminars/Workshops● PR via Homepage●●Nationwide provision of shared teaching materials/compilation of survey results
Pilot lectures/ﬁeld work in integrating coursework(Improvements based on survey results)● Sponsorship of Mid-term Symposium including mid-term external evaluations● Program Symposium (Tohoku University)● Presentation of joint accomplishments (domestic/overseas)● Annual internal evaluation● Evaluation methods trials● Sponsorship of joint Faculty Development Seminars/Workshops● PR via Homepage●●2014

Commencementof pilot programfor joint instruction

2015

Enhancement ofjoint instruction,Evaluation methodtrials

Improvement in shared teaching materials based on survey results
Integration of lectures, ﬁeldwork (Improvements based on survey results)● Sponsorship of summer school programs● Presentation of joint accomplishments (domestic/overseas)● Annual internal evaluation● Program Symposium (Hiroshima University)● Sponsorship of joint Faculty Development Seminars/Workshops● PR via Homepage●●Joint improvements based on survey results,
Proposals for policy improvements following conclusion of the program● Integration of lectures, ﬁeldwork● Final symposium on evaluations● Sponsorship of joint Faculty Development Seminars/Workshops● Sponsorship of summer school programs● Presentation of joint accomplishments (domestic/overseas)● PR via Homepage●2016

Enhancement ofjoint instruction,
Final evaluations

Program for Promoting Inter-University Collaborative Education, representating institution

Faculty of Dentistry, Niigata University2-5274, Gakkocho-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata, 951-8514, JAPAN

Tel:+81-25-227-0557