Results for Certified Evaluation and Accreditation forProfessional Graduate Public Policy School

Department of Public Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy,
The University of Tokyo

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: National

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2023
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2029）

Department of Public Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results
for the Department of Public Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy,
The University of Tokyo

The Department of Public Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy, the University ofTokyo (hereafter “Department”), has established its mission of “fostering policy
practitioners who are responsive to the demands of the times, with skills to identify thechallenges facing modern society and formulate the policies and systems required to solve
the challenges with an international perspective,” in line with the university-wide
education and research goal, which is “to nurture people of leadership qualities who
possess an international character and a pioneering spirit in each branch of higher
learning.” The most distinctive aspect of the Department’s purpose is its emphasis on aninternational perspective. This aspect is appropriate for a professional graduate public
policy school located in the world city of Tokyo, Japan’s capital and political,
administrative, and economic center, which constitutes part of the University of Tokyo,
the oldest and internationally recognized university in Japan.
The Department has taken many unique and excellent initiatives in terms of its
international characteristics, which include admitting applicants of diverse backgrounds
who have received their undergraduate education overseas; establishing the Master of
Public Policy, International Program (MPP/IP) that students can complete taking courses
offered only in English; participating in the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN), aninternational network of public policy graduate schools, and Campus Asia Plus;
introducing double degree programs with a number of overseas universities; actively
promoting internships abroad; and providing opportunities for MPP/IP and other students
to interact together outside of class. In addition, the Department has set up a research unit
financially supported by an international organization (the European Union) and adopted
measures to establish an administrative organization consistent with its purpose, such as
hiring many staff members who can perform their duties in English. These arecommendable efforts that contribute to the Department’s internationalization.
Despite the high standards and achievements attained by the Department,international competition to attract students is fierce, and appropriate recruiting activities
are essential. In this regard, the Department continues to reach out to government agencies,
central banks, and organizations in charge of government scholarship programs, mainlyin Asian countries, and makes steady efforts to increase the amount of information
available on its English website with more frequent updates. These active recruiting1Department of Public Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo

activities, however, can place an additional burden on its faculty members who alreadyprovide a traditionally high level of education to students through courses offered inJapanese, thereby making the faculty excessively busy. As a result, the Department
carefully allocates class hours to each faculty member to secure their research time. Thisis a distinctive initiative that other professional graduate public policy schools can learnfrom.
These efforts have earned the Department a high reputation in society. Being aprofessional graduate public policy school, it is no surprise that its alumni secure
employment mainly in domestic and foreign government agencies. However, in recentyears, many alumni are finding jobs in the consulting and finance/insurance sectors. This
indicates that the Department is providing education that meets the recent trend ofcompanies emphasizing the public interests of their business activities. In addition, sinceAY2022, the Department has offered the unique Capstone project course, in whichdomestic and foreign companies and local governments participate as clients, asking
students to analyze and discuss the practical issues these organizations face. It can be said
that companies and local governments willing to become clients in this course aredemonstrating their confidence in the Department’s level of education. As shown by theexcellent gender balance of students, the Department has clearly succeeded in ensuring
student diversity, including nationality and gender.
On the other hand, the Department needs to form a high-level, organization-wide
consensus on carrying out activities to strengthen its international character. For example,increasing the number of courses offered in English and inviting internationally renowned
faculty members to provide world-standard education do not necessarily lead to higher
levels of satisfaction among international students. The same is true for the satisfactionlevel of students who take courses offered in Japanese. For a sizable educational
institution offering an extensive number of courses, it is essential to make organizationwide efforts to maintain its educational standards, especially in terms of teachingprocedures and evaluation methods, while giving consideration to student diversity. In
this regard, continued efforts for improvement are required by the Department. For
example, the frequency of FD meetings is insufficient. The Department has many faculty
members who teach classes in diverse fields and faces difficulty in achieving a balance
between implementing improvements in educational methods and the curricula on the one
hand and controlling the work hours of full-time faculty members and securing theirresearch time on the other, though no major problems have arisen at this point. Despitethese challenges, the Department is expected to encourage its faculty members to share
information and policies and to make further efforts to improve the educational methods2Department of Public Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyoand curricula, including stable course offerings and course classification, and to explainsuch efforts to students in an appropriate and detailed manner.

3