Fast Facts
Organization
Nationwide Support
Center for Students withDisabilities (NSCSD)
Kanagawa, Japan

Business Need
Support children withdisabilities to receive
adequate information onhigher education
institutions

Solution
Online Web systemenabled by Microsoft
technologies

Results

One-third less timerequired for datacollation
 Five percent increased
information fromuniversities
 Faster, more adequate
information collection
with less labor

Software and Services

Microsoft NPO Support
Program in Japan Windows® Small
Business Server
 Microsoft® VisualStudio®

ICT supporting organizational efficiency for nonprofit
organization
Nationwide Support Center for Students with Disabilities
The Nationwide Support Center for Students with Disabilities (NSCSD)
provides information related to the acceptance of and special attention
given to students with disabilities by Japanese universities.
Through a grant provided under the Microsoft NPO Support Program inJapan, the center built a system that enabled universities to respond tosurveys over the Internet. This became a rich source of information for theUniversity and College Guidebook for Students with Disabilities in Japan.
Situation:
The 700-page University and College Guidebook for students with Disabilities in Japan
contains a wealth of information on 400 universities in Japan. Among the information
provided are descriptions of facilities, access slopes, and special attention provided
for students with disabilities during entrance examinations. A survey of more than
250 questions is sent to universities across Japan. At early stages of its operation, thecenter used to collate the information in paper format and enter the feedback to thedatabase by hand. It had previously taken the center three months just to input theresults of the survey.

Solution:“It was clear that there was a crucial need for an on-line system,” recalls Tsubasa
Tonooka who heads NSCSD. Through the supported of the Microsoft NPO SupportProgram, the center built an online system to collect information from universities
across Japan through a Web-enabled system. The improvement in operation
efficiency achieved by the solution was significant.

Results:
Three years have passed since the adoption of the plan. The system is producing
positive results of the organization. Some of the testimonies include the following.


Elimination of manual process has lead to prevention of mistakes.
Less time is required for data collation. (Results collated within one-third of
the time previously spent).
Increased response rate (five percent) from universities.
Decrease in the number of staff involved at NSCSD (operational efficiencyand cost control).

Page 2 of 3‘’I want students with disabilities to have experience of going to school
like any other child.”“IT is essential for my activities. IT enables the opinions and voices ofpeople with disabilities like us to be expressed in the form of e-mail andproject proposals. Even if you cannot speak or cannot hear, you cancommunicate with other people with the help of a PC. IT enables us to be
active in various fields of society.”
Tsubasa Tonooka
Head of Nationwide Support Center for Students with Disabilities

Unlimited Potential of students with disabilities
The year 2006 was memorable for the center. The Microsoft NPO Support Program provided the center witha set of server/hardware along with Windows Small Business Server and Microsoft Visual Studio. At the sametime, it was a year of struggles for Tsubasa Tonooka: “This was both hardware and software that I had neverused before. Everything was new to me and as a result did take me a vast amount of time to construct thesystem. However, the system was ready to be used for the survey by end of 2006, which was the target I had
originally set.”
Tsubasa mentions that the system is now beyond doubt of great value towards the publication process of theUniversity and College Guidebook for Students with Disabilities in Japan, which has been published seventimes since 1994. The content will continue to be further improved through the operational efficiency thathas been achieved as a result of the new IT environment at NSCSD.

Nobuko Nishimura
Secretariat Manager, NSCSD

Ms. Nishimura has also successfully been overcoming the challenge of amblyopia.

As a supporter for students with disabilities：
According to the “2007 Fact-finding survey of support for students with disabilities in school” (number ofrespondent schools 1,230; recovery rate 100 percent), announced by the Japan Student Services Organizationin 2008, disabled student enrollment as a percentage of total enrollment in universities, graduate schools,
junior colleges, and vocational high schools is only 0.17 percent (5,404 students). The rate of students withdisabilities in total student enrollment in the United States is 11 percent. The difference is clear and obvious.
However, Tsubasa Tonooka remains positive. “I will continue to provide information useful for students withdisabilities to enter universities, and the use of IT is the major key in my above efforts. I would like to improve
the Web site and survey entry forms in order to increase the response rate of universities in the future forthe provision of information truly needed by students with disabilities.”

NPO Support Program: Relationships which open up the future“The use of IT is essential for NPOs who have only a small number of staff and asmall amount of money in order to operate efficiently.
At the same time, it is also quite appealing in the sense that NPOs can make theiractivities widely known with the use of IT. They can send out messages, gatherpeople, and make them function as a community.
On top of that, they can reproduce NPO activities as they are on the network withlittle cost. IT provides a huge possibility to NPOs that are making efforts to be selfsustaining and independent.”
Akira Matsubara
Secretariat Manager of the Coalition for Legislation to Support Citizen’s Organizations (Cs)The Microsoft NPO Support Program started in 2002 as a means to support nonprofit organization projects
through making good use of IT to achieve their organizational mission. Under the program, Microsoft
provides subsidies and necessary software to adopted projects.
The year 2008 is the sixth implementation year for the program, and more than 40 groups in total so far havereceived assistance based on the program.