Results for Certified Evaluation and Accreditation forLaw School

Doshisha University Law School

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Kyoto, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2023
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2029）

Doshisha University Law School

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Doshisha University Law School

Aiming to “devote itself to fostering profound knowledge and outstanding
abilities as legal professionals,” Doshisha University Law School (hereafter “LawSchool”) has established its educational philosophy, goals, and guidelines for developing
human resources as the cultivation of legal professionals responsive to the social needsof 21st century society under the three principles of “conscience education,” “nurturingglobal perspectives,” and “developing a high level of expertise.” These principles
conform with the purposes of the law school system.
To fulfill its educational philosophy, the Law School has taken the following
distinctive initiatives regarding the curriculum.
First, the Law School offers courses, including Foreign Law Practicum andSpecial Seminar on Foreign, to provide students with opportunities to directly interact
with overseas practitioners and researchers in order to fulfill its principle of “nurturing
global perspectives.” With respect to the Foreign Law Field Training course, the Law
School has offered a virtual training program since AY2020 because it was unable todispatch students overseas. In the virtual program, students watch the recordings ofinterviews with foreign (European) lawyers, judges, and Supreme Court investigators,
after which they interact with representatives of the German Embassy and the Delegationof the European Commission in Japan. This program is highly commendable as a new
method utilizing the online platform to provide education. The Law School has also
introduced a credit transfer system for Foreign Law Special Seminar credits to berecognized by affiliated American law schools. This is an excellent initiative for thepurpose of encouraging students to study abroad.
Based on the memorandum of understanding for credit transfer concluded with
the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University, the two universities offer several courses
for which the credits are mutually recognized. For this purpose, the two institutions hold
Joint FD Council meetings to examine and exchange views on the compatibility andadequacy of their curricula from expert viewpoints. Additionally, the universities hear
opinions from students who have taken credit transfer courses to find any problems intaking the courses and any issues arising when comparing the classes offered at the twoschools. These efforts to review the curriculum and to develop and implement the credit
transfer program in cooperation with the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University, arecommendable as distinctive features of the Law School’s curriculum design.
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Furthermore, the Law School implements faculty development (FD) activities
related to curriculum review and the development and implementation of the credit
transfer program in collaboration with the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University,and examines the course contents, as shown by the establishment of subject-specificsubcommittees for the seven basic law courses. It is commendable that these activities
have made remarkable contributions to improving the curriculum.
There are several areas of improvement, however, identified in the certified
evaluation and accreditation.
First, the results of the Common Achievement Test for Law Schools are notincluded in the factors for determining student advancement to the next level, but thenumber of earned credits and the grade point average (GPA) are included. The results of
the Common Achievement Test have an indirect impact on student advancement in theway they are reflected in grading for fall semester courses for which the results can beincorporated in evaluations, but do not have any direct or indirect impact on student
advancement for spring semester courses. The Law School is advised to consider whether
this system is appropriate as a measure restricting the advancement of students who
perform poorly in the Common Achievement Tests.
Second, with respect to faculty organization, more than 80% of the full-time
faculty members are aged 50 or older, and the ratio of female faculty to full-time faculty
members remains low, although the number of female faculty members has increased tothree out of 24 with the hiring of one faculty member as of April 1, 2023. Improvements
are required to promote a more diverse faculty organization. In addition, although theLaw School retains four practitioner faculty members, the ratio of practitioners to fulltime faculty members is below 20%, which should be improved as well.
The Law School has taken some innovative measures to devise a curriculum tofulfill its educational philosophy and made efforts to improve its educational programsby actively introducing a credit transfer system with other law schools and engaging in
FD activities. It has also examined the educational outcomes in an appropriate way. As
mentioned above, however, there are several issues the Law School should address, andthe Law School should continue its efforts for improvement and further enhance its
distinctive features.

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