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

Fukuoka Dental College

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Fukuoka, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2020
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.1.2021 – March.31.2028）

Fukuoka Dental College

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Fukuoka Dental College
Overview
As the University’s mission of intention correlating to the founding spirit and school
regulations, the underlying philosophy of the University is: “In accordance with BasicAct on Education and School Education Act of Japan, Fukuoka Dental College shall teachand research dental science in depth, aim to produce competent dentists with high-level
education and good virtues, execute its mission to contribute towards both social welfare
and development of dentistry and medicine.” In addition, based on the philosophy of oral
medicine, which takes as its subject the entire oral region including teeth and surrounding
tissues for education, research, and medical care, as goals related to education, research,and student support for achieving the founding spirit as formulated in the “Fukuoka
Gakuen Third Medium-Term Concept” these consolidate the University's own mediumterm plan over the six years from 2017 to 2023. Active engagement in teaching, researchand social contribution activities in line with this plan has also been recognized.
As an organization responsible for promoting internal quality assurance, theUniversity has organized a “Self-assessment Committee”. The University has
implemented two cycles; a PDCA cycle that inspects and evaluates the achievement statusof the annual business plan based on the medium-term plan on an annual basis toincorporate the results into the plan for the next academic year, and a PDCA cycle that
leads to problem extraction and subsequent improvements through biennial checks andreviews in line with the evaluation items of the Association. Daily checks and reviews arecarried out by the “Departmental Heads Committee”) formed of executives and faculty,
but the rules of the “Self-assessment Committee” and the “Departmental HeadsCommittee” do not indicate the relationship between the two and the division of roles. Inaddition, the scope of business under the jurisdiction of the “Departmental Heads
Committee” is unclear, and there are problems with the functioning of the internal quality
assurance system.
On the matter of education, the Faculty of Oral Dentistry and the Graduate
Course in Dentistry have organized their curricula appropriately in accordance with thedegree award policy (diploma policy) and curriculum design and implementation policy(curriculum policy). In the Faculty of Oral Dentistry for the practice of outcome-based
education, 6 competencies (general abilities) and 65 competencies (observable specificabilities) are determined in the degree award policy. The University is working to1

Fukuoka Dental Collegevisualize the learning outcomes stipulated in the degree award policy, such as byclarifying what competencies each lesson subject is associated with. Furthermore, in theinspection and assessment of educational and research activities, the University has
established the “Fukuoka Dental College Learning Achievement Evaluation Policy(Assessment Policy)” and is working to verify the results of the overall educational
activities as well as continuously improve the educational program. With regard to theeducational environment and its corresponding program, the University has set up
Learning Commons to facilitate an environment for students to self-study, and based on
how dental care should ideally be in the super-aging society in the future, they aredeveloping a unique educational program that takes advantage of the characteristics of
the University, such as incorporating practical training at facilities and special nursing
homes operated by group corporations and long-term care health facilities established bycorporations. The Graduate Course in Dentistry has also constructed a curriculum thatappropriately combines course work that supports the development of a research base andspecialized research abilities along with research work that addresses specific issues
under the guidance of an academic advisor. As part of the research work, the University
holds portfolio and graduate school mid-term presentations.
From the perspective of student support, the University has established anadvisory instructor system and a student assistants (hereinafter referred to as “SA”s)system for students of the Faculty of Oral Dentistry, and developed a system to provide
learning support through collaboration with teaching professions to enhance student
support, which can be described as an outstanding initiative.
On the other hand, there are issues to be improved upon other than the abovementioned internal quality assurance. By means of a research supervision plan for theGraduate Course in Dentistry, the methods and scheduling of research supervision are notdefined, and the relationship between the criteria for assessment of academic achievement
for each lesson subject and the dissertation examination criteria, which are used asmeasurement indexes for learning outcomes, and the learning outcome shown in thedegree award policy remain unclear. Improvements are required for points that cannot besaid to measure learning outcomes in a multifaceted and appropriate manner.
Going forward, we hope the University solves these issues by investing efforts
in internal quality assurance, and accelerates its numerous distinctive initiatives forfurther development of its program.

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Fukuoka Dental College

Notable Strengths
Student Support

Under the student support policy, which aims to allow all students to devote
themselves to their studies and grow as medical professionals by living a fulfilling
student life, the University has introduced an advisory faculty system that provides
detailed advice and guidance to students as well as an SA system comprising ofstudents selected by the University to be SAs who provide guidance to classmates orjunior students. In this way, they have appropriately set up a system to support
students in collaboration with teaching professions. Many students use the SA systemrepeatedly, and the CBT grades of students who actually use the system improve,thus it functions as learning support for students with poor grades. In addition to theactivities of SAs, creating opportunities to consider the ideal system throughdiscussion meetings held twice a year with faculty and staff has led to the growth ofthe students acting as SAs which is commendable.

Suggestions for Improvement
Internal Quality Assurance Daily checks and reviews as well as improvement support are carried out by the“Departmental Heads Committee” comprised of executives, but the relationship anddivision of roles of the “Check and Review Committee,” which is responsible for thefinal internal quality assurance of the University, and the “Departmental HeadsCommittee” is unclear, as is the scope of duties under the jurisdiction of the“Departmental Heads Committee.” In addition, improvements are required as it is
not recognized that the internal quality assurance system, including the location ofresponsibility, the flow of assessment, and the cooperation system, is functioning ata sufficient level.
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes In the Graduate Course in Dentistry Doctoral Course, learning outcomes are
principally measured by the assessment of academic achievement and dissertation
examination of each subject. However, since the relationship between the criteria for3

Fukuoka Dental College

the assessment of academic achievement and dissertation examination of eachsubject and the learning outcomes shown in the degree award policy is unclear,
improvements are required to measure this in a multifaceted and appropriate manner.
Recommendation
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes The Graduate Course in Dentistry Doctoral Course has not set forth researchsupervision methods and schedules in the form of a research supervision plan. Theseshould be determined and then clearly presented to students in advance.

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