Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results forProfessional Graduate Business School

Graduate School of Management, Ritsumeikan University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: PrivateLocation: Kyoto, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2015
Accreditation Status: Accredited （Accreditation Period: April.01.2016 – March.31.2021）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results
for the Graduate School of Management, Ritsumeikan University
The graduate program in the Graduate School of Management, Ritsumeikan University(hereafter, the Program), defines its purpose as “based on the founding spirit andeducational idea of Ritsumeikan, aiming at making contributions to the peaceful,democratic, and sustainable development of Japan and the rest of the world by fostering
global citizens who will work as business leaders or professional accountants.” The
Program sets the specific goals for each of the courses: the corporate management course
aims to train persons of talent who are equipped with highly specialized competence,
enabling them to learn continuously from both theory and practice, to respect ethics, andto create business; and the corporate accounting course trains persons of talent who areequipped with highly specialized competence, enabling them to learn continuously fromboth theory and practice, to respect ethics, and to make contributions to enhance thereliability of the financial information.
This is the second accreditation review conducted for the Program. Previously,
the Program had applied to Japan University Accreditation Association (hereafter,JUAA) for review in 2010 and received accredited status. Although the Program met thestandard at that time, a number of items were pointed out for improvement. In July 2013,
the Program submitted an improvement report concerning the efforts it had made toaddress the cited deficiencies, and JUAA examined the report and provided commentaryin March 2014.
The curriculum of the Program offers several programs, including threeprograms in the corporate management course that foster creative persons of talent,marketing skills, and international management skills; and two programs, finance andfinance and accounting, in the corporate accounting course. The framework of thecurriculum also offers subjects in three different groups: the basic subjects group(required selective subjects common to both courses); the core subject group (requiredselective subjects common to both courses); and the program subject group. In each of thegroups, subjects that train students in specialized skills in the corporate management andcorporate accounting are offered. Furthermore, these subjects are not only lecture-based,
but also utilize a variety of effective methods such as discussion, workshops, groupstudies, case studies, field studies, internships, field research, andinteractive/multi-reactive lessons with question and answer sessions designed to meet theappropriate purpose of each class. Completing the Program requires two years or more ofenrollment and earning 50 or more credits.
The Program had 17 full-time faculty members as of May 1, 2014 (at least 13 arelegally required). The faculty consists of 15 full professors and two associate professors.
Notably, a variety of factors have been considered in selecting the faculty members,
including age, gender, business, and international working experiences. The Program isadministered by the Professional School Office, which is also responsible for theadministrative duties in both the Law School and the Graduate School of Public Policy.
Three full-time staff members (including a general manager), two part-time staff
members, and one assistant work in Suzaku Campus, which moved to Osaka Ibaraki
Campus in 2015. Two contracted staff members and two assistants handle theadministrative duties on the Osaka Umeda Campus, and they are also responsible forother programs at the University.
The Program has established its admission policy with a focus on four ideals:
strong interests in corporate management, basic academic ability in management andaccounting, specific skills or professional knowledge in such areas as foreign languages
or bookkeeping, and highly goal-oriented with a prospective career after graduation inmind. With these different ideals taken into consideration, the Program administers
entrance examinations in eight ways. All applicants, whether adult working students or3

traditional students, go through both document screening and the interview process.
The Program offers a variety of support for students, including financial support throughscholarships, academic advice and guidance to help students manage stress, information
concerning rules to follow to promote their own growth and to cultivate sociality andcitizenhood, and guidance and instruction to help them lead safe and secure lives asstudents.
The Suzaku and Osaka Umeda campuses are sufficiently equipped with lecturerooms, seminar rooms, and other facilities that accommodate the class size and teachingstyles of the Program, while facilities such as self-study rooms, a common space, and alounge with periodicals are also available. In addition, after the opening of the Osaka
Ibaraki Campus in April 2015, the learning environment for students is improved further.
Based on the evaluation above, the Program is considered to observe the legal
regulations and satisfies the fundamental requirements for a professional graduate schoolof management. However, the Program needs to make further efforts to improve thefollowing areas.
The numbers of both admitted students and total enrolled students have fallen far
below each of their caps for several years, with only 83 students enrolled while theenrollment cap was 180. In an effort to address these challenges, the Program, following
the conventional schedule of the entire university, reviews the entrance examination
every year, produces a refined entrance exam policy and literature for the coming year,
and conducts a number of public relations actions. More efforts should be made to help
increase the enrollment of new students.
Given that the numbers of both newly admitted students and total enrolled
students are far below the caps, the Program should develop and implement an effective
midterm and long-term vision as well as targeted strategies to achieve specific goals
while producing attractive educational programs that make sufficient use of the benefitsof integrated campuses.
The Program has implemented a survey of MBA holders, an extensive research
effort that includes graduates of this Program and other programs and intends to analyze
the value and effectiveness of MBA education as well as evaluate the effectiveness of thisProgram as compared with other schools. This effort is regarded as a notable feature ofthis Program. Hereafter, the Program is expected to use the results of such efforts tofurther improve education and research activities.