SAPPORO UNIVERSITY（札幌大学）
Evaluation summary
Standard 1. Mission and Objectives, etc.
The University was founded in the 1967 academic year to coincide with the 100th anniversary of
the start of the Japanese government’s project to develop Hokkaido. Fifty years having elapsed, theUniversity has been looking towards the next half-century and is aiming to build a university that will
last for 100 years.
Established at the request and with the support of Hokkaido’s economic, industrial and educational
sectors the University seeks to develop human resources who can contribute to the local community
and made a lively pioneering spirit its founding principle. It cites its educational objectives as being
the fostering of lively, intellectual and trustworthy people.
The founding principles and educational objectives are detailed in the Incorporated Educational
Institution Sapporo University Articles of Endowment, Sapporo University Regulations. The University had five faculties but following restructuring in the 2013 academic year the Research Faculty ofRegional Development was established as the sole faculty, and intends to provide comprehensive
liberal arts education, with regional development as its distinctive quality.
The University has formulated its medium-term plan “Reform Roadmap - SU 50,” and is starting
to tread the path towards the “100 year university” target.
Standard 2. Learning and Teaching
The University’s sole Research Faculty of Regional Development consists of 13 majors including
regional development, Russian language, sports and so on, enabling students to take sub-majors; it isdeveloping a diverse liberal arts-based education, and tackling the challenge of a type of educationemphasizing learning diversity, collaborative regional creation and the autonomy of learning.
The educational curriculum is a liberal arts education curriculum but the educational methods arebased on the foundation of autonomous student efforts. A unique system is in place in which thefaculty in charge of advising students on career paths and the staff in charge of the “Motivation UpProgram” for career support collaborate with each other in providing student support.
In order to check the degree to which educational objectives are being attained a person-in-chargeof Institutional Research (IR) is posted but the fruits of this remain to be seen. In order to make themost of the uniqueness of Hokkaido, the Urespa Scholarship has been established for Ainu students,and the efforts to enthusiastically support them and their social activities deserve special mention.
The University’s campus is located in the southern part of Sapporo City, and is equipped with adiversity of facilities. In particular, the Child-rearing Salon Stove is a facility open to parents andothers involved in bringing up children.
Standard 3. Management, Administration and Finance
The University stipulates the Code of Conduct for the Incorporated Educational Institution Sapporo
University Staff, and advocates the maintenance of management discipline and integrity. Internal regulations have been created and are followed regarding environmental conservation, human rights andsafety.
Educational and financial information are publicized on the University’s website.
The functions that should be performed by the Board of Directors and Board of Councilors areorganized and systemized in line with the Incorporated Educational Institution Sapporo University
Articles of Endowment. The authorities and responsibilities of the University’s executive offices
down to its subordinate bodies are clarified and functioning. This means that interdepartmental communication is vital, and these links are well kept.
The total capacity of students is not being reached, but there are at the moment no major problems
with the financial base. As the University buildings are aging there is a need to follow the results ofearthquake durability surveys with an eye on the future.
The accounting audit follows the so-called three-type audit system and its operation is stringently
enforced.

Standard 4. Self-Inspection and Evaluation
Independent and autonomous self-inspection and evaluation is conducted as specified in Article 21of the Sapporo University Regulations and elsewhere. In order to perform highly transparent selfinspection and evaluation, evaluations are oriented towards the evidence-based format. Subsequently
a person-in-charge of IR is posted and internal data collated, but it will require more trial and error aswell as accumulated experience before this data can become fully used.
The accumulation of evaluation results and experience is crucial in operating a PDCA cycle forcross-university reforms, and it is to be hoped that the roles of Faculty Development (FD) and Staff
Development (SD) will make a sizable contribution towards this.
In summary, the University is fulfilling the four standards, and it is very much hoped that its autonomous evaluation activities will lead to improvements in the quality of the education it provides.
Note that with regard to the University’s unique initiatives regarding its mission and goals, thegeneral comments on “Standard A. Community contribution” should be referred to.