Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results forProfessional Graduate Business School

The Department of Business Studies,
the Graduate School of Business,
Doshisha University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Kyoto, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2013
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period:April.01.2014 – March.31.2019）2

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results for theDepartment of Business Studies, the Graduate School of Business,
Doshisha University

The Department of Business Studies (hereafter, the BS department) in the Graduate
School of Business at Doshisha University makes Doshisha University’s founding spiritof “internationalism” and “conscientiousness” part of its educational mission to respond“appropriately to various challenges contemporary businesses face in an ever-changingatmosphere.” Moreover, it states its unique purposes as “formulating strategies fordeveloping sustainable businesses and organizations by making education and research
openly available to businesses and society,” and “fostering businesspersons who can act
on those strategies.”
The BS department clearly defines its admission policy for admitting students
who are well-matched to the department’s mission. In particular, two pillars of theadmissions policy are “to foster persons of talent who can bear the responsibility forsmall and medium enterprises (SME) that make contributions to regional economies andsocieties” and “to cultivate businesspersons who can appropriately adapt tointernationalization.” As a professional business school rooted in Kyoto, a region where
a number of businesses have accumulated highly specialized technologies anddeveloped global projects, the BS department has made efforts to establish its mission,
manage its curriculum, and arrange scholarships in order to foster persons of talent whocan take charge of SME that make contributions to regional economies andcommunities. These efforts are commendable as a unique characteristic of the BSdepartment.
To pursue these purposes, two courses are set in terms of curriculum: the MBA
course in which students are taught in Japanese and the Global MBA course in which
they are taught exclusively in English. In the MBA course there are a variety of subjects
available, including “SME and regional management” which was established to foster
persons of talent who can make contributions to regional economies and take an activepart in SME. In addition, in response to requests made by industries operating in theregion around Kyoto, the BS department offers advanced classes in the area of“technological management” for human resource development. In the Global MBA
course, all subjects are taught in English and subjects such as business in Asia,
environmental issues and green business practices, and culture and creativity are offered
to meet the needs of the mostly international students. Offering these subjects can beregarded as a unique characteristic of the Global MBA program.
The BS department’s educational methods focus on the ways in which SME
operate and foster human resources to ensure the continuation and success of theirbusiness projects. In particular, it has made efforts to devise creative teaching methods
by developing lectures concerning management practices through collaboration withbusinesses and through cultivating practical abilities.
Moreover, the BS department offers individualized course registration guidancefrom the point of student enrollment, responding to students’ diverse backgrounds andgoals for entering the program. That is, it has made efforts for creating course plans thatmeet each student’s career design. In particular, regarding the “solution report,” which
is a requirement for degree completion, the BS department has developed an
instructional system that considers the compatibility of students’ topics with thespecializations of full-time faculty members resulting in effective instruction.

3In addition, a notable, unique characteristic and strength of the BS department isits rich facilities and equipment. At the Imadegawa campus (i.e., Kanbaikan), which is
the main campus of the BS department, there are several classrooms suited for businessschool classes, including pit-style lecture halls (cone-shaped with stairs for students tosit and have face-to-face communications with instructors). In addition, the library andstudy rooms are open twenty-four hours a day. Students use these facilities effectivelyand even students working full-time are able to enjoy full use of these facilities. Sincemany professional business schools in Japan lack adequate facilities and equipment, it ishighly commendable that the BS department has made efforts for both enriching thecurriculum and maintaining substantial facilities and equipment.
A further strength of the BS department is that, in addition to the Imadegawa
campus, it has established a satellite site in Umeda, Osaka. The faculty members
commute between the two sites to teach the same subjects at both sites on different
weekdays. This has made it possible to offer the same kind of face-to-face instruction at
both locations.
Having stated the unique efforts above, there remain several issues to beaddressed. First, it is not clear how the unique purposes of the BS department are linked
to its degree granting policies (i.e., diploma policy). That is, it is necessary that the BS
department clearly state that its purpose includes “fostering persons of talent who canbear the responsibilities for SME that make contributions to regional economies andsocieties” in its diploma policy. The degree granting policies are constituted withrespect to Doshisha University’s founding spirit of “conscientiousness.” However, theterm “conscientiousness” is highly abstract, so the image of persons of talent projectedby the BS department is somewhat ambiguous. It is expected that the department willfurther devise a plan to communicate to enrolled students its image of “conscientious”
persons of talent.
Second, the university’s founding spirit of internationalism is not clearlyevidenced in the BS department’s curriculum and documents. There have been
initiatives to enhance interactions between students enrolled in the Global MBA andthose in the MBA course in order to foster students’ global perspectives. However, it isexpected that the BS department will make efforts to further enhance subjects that foster
cultivate students’ global perspectives and to clearly situate internationalism in its
curriculum.
Third, there are not enough subjects taught in the area of “people andorganizations,” even though this area imparts specialized knowledge and skills formanagement and is essential to managing businesses and other organizations. This is anissue of human resources (i.e., hiring and promoting of faculty members). To address
this, it is necessary to hire full-time faculty members who specialize in the area of
human resources and organizational management. Since the 2014 school year, the BS
department has considered increasing classes in this area, and it is expected that the BS
department will steadily proceed to enrich this area of study. In addition, another issue
has arisen in that a few subjects in the area of marketing have been cancelled. It isexpected that the BS department will hire full-time faculty members to take initiative inoffering subjects in this area.
Fourth, as a mid-term challenge, the BS department is expected to position
faculty members to provide balance in their course offerings and arrangements . In
addition, as pointed out above, it is necessary to hire faculty member(s) in the area ofmarketing.
Furthermore, the BS department has a problem of stagnation in fulfilling thefirst-year student enrollment cap, which has significant implications for the policies
regarding admission and the granting of diplomas. Since the 2010 school year, first-year
students have continuously been under-enrolled. In the 2013 school year, first-year
student enrollment significantly increased because the Global MBA course started andstudents’ were admitted into the program. However, as the number of applicants who

4wish to enter the Japanese MBA course has continued to decline. It is necessary for theBS department to further strengthen measures to fulfill the first-year student enrollment
cap.
In relation to this point, it is problematic that information about the career andemployment situations of graduates has not been consolidated. This is an issue of the“exit strategy” of business schools. For prospective students, as they make decisions
about whether to apply for the BS department’s program, information about graduates’
career success is a very significant factor to take into account. Therefore, it is desirable
that the BS department should make public detailed information about its graduates’
career choice and paths after graduation. In addition, it should evaluate its educational
impacts and build a system through which the evaluation results are linked toimprovements in educational content and methods.
To conclude, the points below need to be mentioned concerning the running of
educational programs in the BS department, specifically in regards to the changing
positions of the MBA and Global MBA courses, both housed in the BS department. TheBS department plans to restructure its program and system in the 2014 school year. As
discussed above, the two purposes of the program have been “to foster persons of talent
who can bear the responsibility for SME which make contributions to regional
economies and societies” and “to cultivate businesspersons who can appropriately adapt
to internationalization.” The BS department plans to rebuild its organization and system
to make these dual purposes more focused. In concrete terms, it plans to restructure theprogram by separating the courses into two independent entities—the MBA course willremain as a professional business school, and the Global MBA course will become a(general)graduate school of business.
It is expected that the concerns raised at this round of evaluation andaccreditation will be addressed in the process of future restructuring. In order to enhance
the competitiveness of its business education program as a professional business school,
it is strongly suggested that the BS department should formulate action plans to clarify
mid- and long-term plans and devise specific strategies for the MBA course in which
students are mainly taught in Japanese.
Japan University Accreditation Association expects the BS department’s furtherdevelopment and enrichment through conducting continuous self-studies andevaluations, formulating mid- and long-term visions, implementing reforms and making
improvement efforts, and strengthening its unique characteristics.