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

Aoyama Gakuin University

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

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2014
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period:April.01.2015 – March.31.2022）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Aoyama Gakuin University
Overview
Aoyama Gakuin University (hereafter, the University) has its roots in three schools:
Girls' Elementary School, Kokyo Gakusha Boys' School, and the Methodist Mission
Seminary, each founded by missionaries sent by the Methodist Episcopal Church in theUnited States. The three schools evolved into Aoyama Gakuin, a portion of which wasapproved as Aoyama Gakuin University in 1949, as a university in the postwar Japanesehigher education system. The University originally had three colleges, the College ofLiterature, the College of Commerce, and the College of Engineering, and since then it
has established undergraduate units as well as graduate schools, and it has reorganized
its academic and administrative units. Currently, the University has nine undergraduate
units, the College of Literature, the College of Education, Psychology, and HumanStudies, the College of Economics, the Faculty of Law, the School of Business, theSchool of International Politics, Economics, and Communication, the School of Culturaland Creative Studies, the College of Sciences and Engineering, and the School of Social
Informatics. It also has twelve graduate schools, the Graduate School of Literature, theGraduate School of Education, Psychology, and Human Studies, the Graduate School ofEconomics, the Graduate School of Law, the Graduate School of Business, the Graduate
School of International Politics, Economics, and Communication, the Graduate Schoolof Cultural and Creative Studies, the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, theGraduate School of Social Informatics, the Graduate School of International
Management, the Law School, and the Graduate School of Professional Accountancy.
The University has two campuses: Aoyama campus, located in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo,and Sagamihara campus, located in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture. It hasdeveloped educational and research activities, following its founding spirit that“education at Aoyama Gakuin shall be conducted in perpetuity based on Christianfaith.”
Prior to this accreditation review, the Law School had already undergone
professional graduate school accreditation review by the Japan Law Foundation (JLF) inthe second half of the 2013 and was accredited. In the same year, the Department ofInternational Management in the Graduate School of International Management wasreviewed and accredited by the Alliance on Business Education and Scholarship for
Tomorrow: A Twenty-First Century Organization (ABEST21), and the Department ofProfessional Accountancy in the Graduate School of Professional Accountancy wasreviewed and accredited by the Japanese Institute of International Accounting Education(JIIAE). Thus, Japan University Accreditation Association (JUAA) reviewed each
School this time by improvements from the previous accreditations onwards from thestandpoint of University Accreditation (institutional certified evaluation andaccreditation).
After its accreditation review by JUAA in 2007, the University has rearranged
the locations of academic units on its two campuses, and has formulated mid- andlong-term practical plans to respond to the changing needs that society asks universities
to meet. Moreover, the University has made efforts to enrich its education. For example,
it created the “Organization for Aoyama Standard Education,” which systematically
implements a common curriculum called “Aoyama Standard” that offers common
liberal arts subjects for all students. However, the University has several issues toaddress, including educational content and methods (e.g., the lack of course work in thedoctoral programs). In addition, the University’s internal quality assurance systemcannot be regarded as fully functional. JUAA strongly expects the University to makegood progress to carry out reform of the system, given that such reform is already underconsideration.

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Notable Strengths
Educational and Research Organization

It is commendable that the University has made continuous efforts to strengthen
and reform its organization in order to remain current, and such efforts has
produced positive effects on students’ learning. In particular, in April 2013, theUniversity established the “Institute of Information and Media,” reorganized fromthe “Information Science Research Center,” and has made efforts to improve theinformation environment, including planning, introducing, using, and managing
facilities and equipment. With such efforts, the University has enriched its supportof classes that use computer technologies as well as its support of curriculum andinstructional methods of basic information education. It also initiated the use of“Course Power,” a web-based class management system, and has video-recorded
lessons and made them available to students. Many students have used theseservices to enrich their studies.

Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome

It is commendable that the University has made efforts to offer a cutting-edge
educational program in economics. In particular, since 2003, the Department of
Public and Regional Economics in the College of Economics and the Department of
Public and Regional Economics in the Graduate School of Economics have created
a computer room exclusively for the “Geographic Information System (GIS)
Laboratory,” which is the first effort of its kind among economic undergraduate andgraduate programs in a Japanese university, and have begun to offer a full-scale
GIS education. The GIS system makes it possible to visualize regional economic
and social dynamics in a three-dimensional format based on highly advanced
grid-square-coded statistical data. As such, it enables researchers and students toempirically validate theories (e.g., regional development theory) and analyze them.
Some students have entered the University because of this educational program,
making this effort unique in terms of student recruitment.

It is commendable that the School of Cultural and Creative Studies has beensuccessful and effective in motivating students to study through unique educational
methods. For example, the “Laboratory Training” uses “Aoyama Community
Laboratory” (a research center attached to the School) as a site for seminars inwhich students act as “interns” to collaborate with local communities, businesses,
and national and local governments. Many students have participated in theseseminars. Moreover, the University offers “Aoyama Communicative English(ACE)” classes that areR offered six days a week, and students taking these classes
can raise their TOEIC○ scores sixty to ninety points on average every year fromApril (when they enter the University) to December.
EA

It is commendable that the College of Economics has taken an initiative to measure
students’ learning outcomes, and through this initiative students’ learning has been
improved. In particular, since 2012, the College has encouraged students to take the“Economic Record Examination” and has used it to assess students’ learning
outcomes. Because the College pays the cost of the examination, the number ofstudents taking it has been increasing. Since 2012, the College has consistently
produced high-scoring students with S and A+ grades, scores that are given to onlya very few examinees. This shows that this initiative has a high degree of success.

4Student SupportIt is commendable that the School of International Politics, Economics, andCommunication offers unique support of students in their career development, aneffort that is consistent with its purpose of research and education, which is to valueinteraction with people as widely as possible across the world. In particular, theSchool has developed its own support of student career development. It hasestablished the “SIPEC Student Study Group of Diplomacy and International CivilService,” a guidance program targeting those who wish to pursue a career in
diplomacy or seek employment in international organizations. The program, aiming
to produce persons of talent who can play active roles in the international theater, ismanaged by the faculty members, and under their supervision, during the summer
and spring holidays, students play a central role in organizing special seminars andstudy groups to prepare for civil service examinations. They also organize study
conferences, consultation meetings with alumni, and internship opportunities. From1985 to 2011, the program had remarkable success in helping students secure
employment in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, public service in organizations suchas the United Nations and other international institutions, and in media-relatedorganizations such as newspaper companies. Based on these successes, the School
established the “SIPEC Student Club for Career Exploration in Journalism ” in2012 and since then it has begun to offer guidance to those students who wish tobecome journalists.

Social Cooperation and Contribution
It is commendable that a number of students at the University have engaged insocial contribution activities and have expanded the area of their activities from thenational to the international front, with support of the areas affected by the Great
East Japan Earthquake of 2011 as a start. In particular, since the earthquake, theUniversity has conducted its social contribution activities through the “AoyamaGakuin University Volunteer Station.” Since the beginning of its activities, it hascontinued to support the affected areas and has expanded the horizon of activity,including in both the “local sector,” in which students do volunteer work for local
welfare facilities, and the “international sector,” in which they engage in activities
in overseas countries, such as the Philippines and Nepal.

Suggestions for Improvement
Mission and Purpose
The purposes for graduate schools and professional graduate schools stated in thedocuments “Graduate School Regulations” and “Professional Graduate School
Regulations” are the same as those purposes prescribed in the School Education Act.
The language of the documents does not represent the University’s own missionand purposes. This should be improved.

Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
In all undergraduate units and graduate schools, the curriculum design policies donot state basic ideas concerning educational content and methods. This should beimproved.

The doctoral programs in all the graduate schools do not combine coursework andresearch appropriately in their curricula. Considering the purpose of a course-based

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doctoral program, the graduate schools should offer appropriate educationalcontent.
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In more than several academic units across the University, syllabi do not contain
information about assessment criteria and standards. This should be improved.

The maximum number of credits students can register for a year has been set highat fifty-four for second-year students in the Department of French Language andLiterature in the College of Literature; at fifty-four for fourth-year students in theSchool of International Politics, Economics, and Communication; and at fifty-twofor the fourth year students in the School of Cultural and Creative Studies. In
addition, in the Department of English in the College of Literature and in theDepartment of Education in the College of Education, Psychology, and HumanStudies, the maximum number of credits students can register for per year has been
set between forty-four and forty-eight; however, the number has been set high at
fifty-six for transfer students for two years after their transfer. This should beimproved.

None of the departments (except the Department of French Literature andLanguage) in the Graduate School of Literature have stipulated the criteria for
examining special topic research findings. The doctoral program in the Graduate
School of International Management and the doctoral program in the Graduate
School of Professional Accountancy have not stipulated the criteria for examining
degree-seeking theses. These criteria should be formulated and clearly stated in thestudent handbooks, e.g., “Graduate Student Handbook.”

Enrollment
The ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap is low at 0.41 in theLaw School. It is high at 1.24 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in theCollege of Science and Engineering, and at 2.33 in the second half of the doctoral
program in the Graduate School of Social Informatics. This situation should beimproved.

Education and Research Environment
The Mandai Memorial Library on the Sagamihara Campus does not have full-time
staffs with professional knowledge and skills. This should be improved.

No regulations have been stipulated against dishonest conducts in research
activities. This should be improved.

Internal Quality Assurance
While the University produces a “Self-Study Report” every three years following
the “Self-Study Rules” and the “Self-Study Committee Rules,” annual self-study is
only conducted by the faculty council and other committees of each undergraduate
unit or graduate school, with focused on some idiosyncratic items. That is, nosystematic, thorough, or university-wide self-studies are conducted by the“Committee on Self-study” at the university-level and by any “Unit-Level
Committee on Self-Study.” Given this situation, the University’s internal quality
assurance system cannot be said to be functional. Moreover, no methods have been
established through which university-wide results of self-studies can bedisseminated as feedback to each unit, and no clear system is set to connect the6results to improvements. This situation should be improved through thedevelopment of a system of internal quality assurance.