University Accreditation Results(Results for Certified Evaluation and Accreditation for university)

Kobe City College of Nursing

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: PublicLocation: Hyogo, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2016
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.01.2017 – March.31.2024）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Kobe City College of Nursing
Overview
Kobe City College of Nursing (hereafter, the College) was founded by the City ofKobe as a college with a single faculty, the Faculty of Nursing, in 1996, a year after theGreat Hanshin Earthquake, in response to the citizens’ hope for better medical care.
The College’s mission is “to educate nursing professionals capable of contributing tohealth, medical care, and welfare in their local communities.” Thereafter, the College
made efforts to enhance undergraduate education, established the master course in2000 and the doctorate course in 2006 in the Graduate School of Nursing.
After its accreditation review by Japan University Accreditation Association(JUAA) in 2009, the College has made efforts to improve ongoing issues, such asimplementing faculty development (FD) activities in the Graduate School of Nursing;facilitating completion of the master course within the standard course terms;
reconsidering the system for examining theses in the graduate school; and improving
the research environment by allowing faculty members sufficient time to research,reconsidering the library’s hours of operation, and building a review system forself-inspection as an organization.
In this accreditation, it is commendable that, since 2013, the College has
maintained connections with local citizens by contributing to local communityactivities. The theme “Collaborating with Local People in Creating a base ofCommunity Care” and participation of local residents in the classes, have facilitatedimprovements in educational methods that led to a variety of practical learning effects
on students. In addition, one strong feature of the College is that it tackle with
providing education to enhance practical nursing skills. In the master’s program, theCollege has established seven CNS (Certified Nurse Specialist) courses, and has madeefforts in education for cancer nurse specialist.
However, there is room for improvement in the graduate schools, specificallyin the high ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap in the doctorate
course, and in the lack of basic ideas about educational content and methods in thecurriculum design policy. Moreover, although the Future Planning Committee
stipulated an action plan in 2014, and each committee made plans and conductedevaluations based on that plan, the College has not correctly addressed the current
situation. JUAA expects that hereafter, by working on self-inspection, the College will
make the system work and resolve these issues in order to grasp, analyze, and evaluate
information appropriately in the Self-Inspection Committee and achieveimprovements.
Notable Strengths
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome

It is commendable that the College has conducted activities that contribute to thelocal community and has provided an education where students acquire practicalskills both on and off campus. For example, in such subjects as Health Education,
Home Care Nursing, Disaster Nursing II, and Healthy Life Nursing Practicum, theCollege incorporates local volunteers who participate as mock patients, a practicethat has improved the implementation methods through discussions and training
with the volunteers. In “Machino Hoken Shitsu” (Town Health Care Program), theCollege conducted practical education in the community by providing healthsupport, child-rearing support, and mental and physical consultations to localcitizens.

3Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and OutcomeIn the Graduate School of Nursing, the curriculum design policy does not indicate
basic ideas about content and method of education. This should be improved.

Enrollment
The ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap is high at 2.28 in thedoctorate course in the Graduate School of Nursing. This number should beimproved.

Internal Quality Assurance
While the Future Planning Committee stipulated the action plan of the College in2014, and the other committees articulated the plans for several activities andreviewed the activities based on the action plan, the College has not addressed thecurrent situation correctly, and several issues still exist in the ability of the internal
quality assurance system to function well. It is expected that, to implement
independent self-inspection as a college, the College will correctly grasp thecurrent situation in the Self-Inspection Committee and improve the function of its
internal quality assurance system.