March 10, 2017
Musubi Tabuchi
Chair, Evaluation Promotion Committee
Kwansei Gakuin(Chancellor, Kwansei Gakuin)

2016 Kwansei Gakuin University Self-Assessment Results
We are pleased to release the Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) self-assessment
report for academic year 2016, in which we review our philosophies, goals, education andresearch targets, policies, etc., and evaluate the achievement status of the vision (goals)
and action plans.
In our AY2016 self-assessment, we evaluated the achievement status of the vision(goals) and action plans set out in AY2015. However, the KGU executive office and relevantorganizations separately established their goals in AY2015, resulting in inconsistency of thegoals of the two parties that are supposed to take measures in an integrated manner.
Therefore, we first reorganized their goals from a university-wide perspective before
starting evaluation.
In AY2004, in order to reinforce the PDCA cycle toward spontaneous andself-sustaining development, Kwansei Gakuin (KG) created a New Self-assessment
System incorporating the Certified Evaluation and Accreditation System, which requires
KG to conduct self-assessment annually. In AY2006, KGU underwent the first Certified
Evaluation and Accreditation by the Japan University Accreditation Association (JUAA) forits Self-assessment Report and was accredited as “meeting the standards of JUAA.”In AY2009, KG reviewed the evaluation items in line with the changes in theevaluation standards of JUAA, reset its goals, and started working on five-year goals
toward AY2013. In AY2014, KG made a comprehensive report on the achievement statusof the newly set five-year goals. In the intervening period, KGU underwent the secondCertified Evaluation and Accreditation by JUAA and was accredited again as “meeting thestandards of JUAA” in AY2013.
So far, our self-assessment efforts have won high recognition from the Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, JUAA, and other universities andinstitutions as a pioneering initiative in which we successfully utilized the PDCA cycle. In
fact, we have been interviewed by some of these organizations on our self-assessment
efforts. However, we encountered several challenges as well.
In response to such challenges, we sought to ensure consistency among different
departments and schools by introducing a process of flexibly adapting their goals tochanges in society and the environment and by sharing matters that need to be included inpolicies.
Our self-assessment in AY2015 and thereafter seeks to enhance the quality of oureducation and research. To that end, among other steps, we assure the quality ofeducation that JUAA upholds as an “evaluation (basic evaluation) on whether or not thelegal requirements common to all universities, including those prescribed in the School
Education Act and the Standards for Establishment of Universities, are observed.” We also

ensure that our internal quality assurance system works effectively as suggested by thedirection of the third Certified Evaluation and Accreditation.
Also, we ensure that the viewpoints implied by the third Certified Evaluation andAccreditation and opinions from KGU and its schools and departments are incorporated
into our self-assessment implementation methods. In so doing, we make sure that thePDCA cycle for our internal quality assurance mechanism proceeds successfully, thereby
developing an even better self-assessment system.
Our future self-assessment efforts must lead to higher-level, more independent,
and higher quality education and research.
Please contact our secretariat if you have any feedback or suggestions about ourreport (or its supporting documents).
Self-assessment Secretariat: Kwansei Gakuin Assesment Office
jikohyouka@kwansei.ac.jp