Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results forProfessional Graduate Business School

The Major in Entrepreneurship in the Graduate School of Commerceat the Otaru University of Commerce

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: National

Location: Hokkaido, 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 the Major in Entrepreneurship in the Graduate School of Commerceat the Otaru University of Commerce

The Major in Entrepreneurship Program (hereafter, MIE Program) in the Graduate
School of Commerce at the Otaru University of Commerce was founded with theunique purpose “to foster students’ deep knowledge and excellent abilities that allow
them to take responsibility in professions requiring a high degree of specialization, andto cultivate persons of talent who can make contributions to regional economies andcultural developments.” The MIE Program as an academic program has operated by the
only business school in Hokkaido, Japan. The MIE Program explains the notion ofentrepreneurship and its educational purposes as follows. First, it defines
entrepreneurship as an awareness and ability to pursue a wide range of “innovations.”
Innovations here include new business developments in the existing corporations andorganizational reforms in the companies and municipal governments. Then it states thatits educational purposes are to cultivate “business leaders with abilities to increase theknowledge and skills in business management and to create business opportunities” andto foster “business innovators who can conceive plans for new business models anddevelop them into entrepreneurial projects.”
The MIE Program has made unique efforts appropriate for its own purposes, oneof which is to foster persons of talents in the area of practice. It is important that theMIE Program hopes to make contributions to the regional developments by cultivating
persons of talents who can confront squarely with various challenges Hokkaido’s
economy has faced and who can deal with them. In particular, in order to cultivate suchhuman talents, the MIE Program offers “Business Workshop” that allows students toanalyze, strategically examine, and make plans in relation to business practices,
responding to the challenges corporations in Hokkaido face.
It is also commendable that the MIE Program institutionalizes the educational
methods that are effective in enhancing the teaching quality. In particular, in order toimprove the quality of its classes, the MIE Program has instituted a system in which
students evaluate classes by writing freely about the aspects of the classes they mostappreciate and aspects they feel in need of improvement. The student evaluations areunsigned and take place before they receive grades. The responses are immediately
given to the faculty, and the faculty members make efforts to improve their teaching
methods and content in the next module they teach.
Furthermore, it is commendable that the MIE Program has devised a good plan
concerning the venues where classes are held. In particular, while its base is at the Otaru
main campus, the MIE Program established satellite classes offered in the building infront of the Sapporo railroad station, very convenient to students who have jobs tocommute and take classes. At the same time, by offering satellite classes in Sapporo(which is the center of Hokkaido’s economy and business activities), the MIE Program
has made efforts to further enhance the cooperation between regional industries,governments, and academia. It is important for business schools to cooperate withbusinesses. Thus, it can be said that the MIE Program’s holding satellite classes in
Sapporo is effective in the joint research it conducts with local corporations as well as ininviting guest lecturers from business and other communities.
There are some matters to be improved in order for the MIE Program to offer
better education. First, it is necessary to revise its plans for vision, strategy, and action.

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The current plan is already eight years old; since then, there have been changes in thebusiness environment that necessitates new action plans. Moreover, the MIE Program’sfaculty members are the main force behind the “business model workshops” (throughwhich its strategic policies are made); however, it is more desirable to establish asystem that can actively incorporate voices and ideas of other stakeholders such as
businesses and students.
Second, it is necessary to put the diploma policies (policies to grant degrees) in astatutory form. Based on the university-wide mission currently in the process of being
written, the requirements for MIE Program completion should be written up clearly.
Moreover, Learning outcomes and standards at the point of program completion need to
be clarified, reflecting the MIE Program’s purpose of fostering the persons of talents.
Third, an enrichment of the curriculum is needed. For example, in thecurriculum reforms scheduled for the near future, it is desirable to strengthen theeducational content to cultivate professional ethics. Moreover, in order to prevent
overlapping or gaps in educational content, it is necessary to expand opportunities forfaculty members actually teaching MIE classes to coordinate class content appropriately.
In particular, there is an issue of classes in which some subject matters (including thecollaborative course offerings with Northwestern University) are offered based on
personal connections of the particular faculty member in charge. Thus, it is urgent for
the MIE Program to address the issue systematically and to build a system that cansustain itself without the faculty member in charge.
Fourth, it is necessary for the MIE Program to enhance the services provided at
the Sapporo satellite site. Currently, no full-time staff members are stationed there. It
has to be said that services for students are not sufficient. Students cannot use thesatellite site on Saturdays and Sundays, which is inconvenient for students who wish toengage in group-work to prepare for classes. Measures should be taken to improve thesituation. In addition, library collections should be further developed further to improvelearning environment for those studying at the satellite site.
Fifth, it is necessary to revitalize and enhance efforts for student support.
Recently, there have been some results of such efforts: the annual meeting of the “MBAAssociation,” one of the alumni organizations, and questionnaires filled by thegraduates. However, the MIE Program has not established a system in which current
students and graduates, together as stakeholders, can continuously be involved in theMIE Program’s educational activities. Such a system, if created, would add a sense ofbelonging among students and graduates, and can be an effective means for the MIE
Program to incorporate outside perspectives in deciding its directions. Japan University
Accreditation Association (JUAA) would like to suggest that the MIE Program consider
creating such a system.
Overall, individual faculty members in the MIE Program engage in educational
activities seriously with a high quality of teaching, and it has attained a high satisfaction
rate among the students. However, in order to further develop the MIE Program as abusiness school, it is urgent to organize individual faculty members’ efforts. As the only
business school in Hokkaido, the MIE Program also needs to further enhance its
presence and contributions to the regional economy. It needs to conduct continuousreforms in order to contribute to Hokkaido’s economic developments. JUAA hopes thatthe MIE Program will further develop itself by extending its strengths.