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

Iwate Prefectural University

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

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2015
Accreditation Status: Accredited（Accreditation Period: April.01.2016 – March.31.2023）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Iwate Prefectural University
Overview
Iwate Prefectural University (hereafter, the University), founded as a public university
with four faculties in 1998, opened a graduate school and became a public corporation in2005. The University provides education on the Takizawa Campus in Takizawa City andthe Aiina Campus in Morioka City based on the founding sprit of fostering rich culture
and respecting people.
After its accreditation review by Japan University Accreditation Association(JUAA) in 2008, the University has established two major objectives: educating from a
student perspective, focusing on the growth of students; and tackling activities from a
local perspective to support the local community in this difficult age. The University has
worked on assuring the quality of education and has improved its internal quality
assurance system based on self-study. Furthermore, the University has introduced an
integrated database that has resulted in innovation within the system and has produced
positive results.
In addition to the development of the internal quality assessment system, anotable feature is, the establishment of the Center for the Advancement of HigherEducation, which is intended to reinforce the University’s teaching system and to enhance
the common basic subjects across all faculties in order to cultivate students’ educationand fundamental skills. It is commendable that the University has made a variety ofefforts to connect with local populations, such as strengthening competencies as working
person through career education, collaborating with external organizations for research inan effort to make local contributions, and promoting research in collaborative settings oflocal-academia and/or business-academia for local issues (such as earthquake disaster
restoration).
However, with regard to educational issues, the maximum number of credits a
student can register for in a year is high in some of the faculties. Also, several doctoral
programs in the graduate schools have not adopted the credit-based system, and course
work is not offered. This practice raises questions regarding the substance of graduate
education. Furthermore, enrollment management to fulfill the transfer student admission
cap is another area of concern. The University should improve the internal quality
assurance system to enhance three policies—namely, the policy on degree award, thecurriculum design policy and the admission policy—and should improve the quality ofeducation.
Notable Strengths
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome

It is commendable that the University has set a group of common basic subjects
across four faculties as the basic education subjects. In particular, liberal arts subjects
aim to examine the area of expertise from a relative point of view and encourage
students to think by themselves. In an attempt to help students use their knowledge
and experiences for the betterment of society, the University also offers area-based,
theme-based, and project-based subjects to create opportunities to study basic
education. It is commendable that these efforts result in helping students gain various
perspectives and thoughts across several areas of expertise.

It is commendable that study groups have been formed that invite graduates working
in public policy or officials from other prefectural municipalities to gain an education

3in public-academia collaboration and to promote effective and practical research. For
example, in the Special Course on Public Policy in the Graduate School of Policy
Studies, study groups focusing on policy, legal work, and asset management havebeen organized because the course’s main students are municipality officials. As aresult, the course has accessed information from core subjects, such as the study ofpolicy and legal work, the study of public policy, and a study guide of public policy.
Student Support

It is commendable that the University has collaborated with numerous companies toprovide students with internships that improve employment ratios and help each
student actively develop competencies as working person and other basic businessskills. By adopting the policy to develop such competencies, the Faculty of Policy
Studies and the Faculty of Software and Information Science have worked on making
career-development subjects a requirement for students, along with an “E-project”
where students work in teams to create projects that help them develop basic businessskills.

Social Cooperation and Contribution
It is commendable that the Regional Policy Research Center has promoted
collaborative research with external organizations, solicited for local collaborative
research based on the proposals by faculty or by the local community, and carried out
several projects. These projects have helped resolve local issues, such as health careand welfare and the reconstruction effort from the Great East Japan Earthquake
disaster. In addition, it is commendable that the Iwate Monozukuri and Software
Integration Technology Center (i-Mos) has contributed to society by making
suggestions about the productivity of manufacturing industries and adding enhanced
values to products. These suggestions have led to product development and patentapplications.

Internal Quality Assurance
The University has established the University Evaluation Committee to lead thedevelopment of the self-study system across the University, and has reviewed
measures for more efficient implementation to achieve goals based on the second
midterm plan. The committee has categorized the midterm plan’s 50 measures into
six core plans and produced unique evaluation indicators that reflect the accreditation
standards. It is commendable that the University can evaluate achievement with
objective data and improve teaching by sharing information among all faculty
members and staff by introducing a system to allow analysis that uses the indicators.

Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
The policy on degree award is defined for each degree program in the Graduate
School of Policy Studies and the types of persons to foster are clear. However, theabilities that students are required to develop before degree completion are the samefor the master’s and doctoral programs. The University should revise the policies, toclearly state the specific learning outcomes required for the completion in eachdegree program.

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The doctoral programs in the Graduate School of Social Welfare and the Graduate
School of Policy Studies do not provide a curriculum with research work and course
work properly combined. Considering the objectives of the credit-based
degree-granting system, the doctoral program should offer appropriate educationalcontent.

In the Faculty of Social Welfare, the maximum number of credits students canregister for a year has been set high at 56 in the first and second years, 64 in the thirdyear, and no limit for the fourth year and transfer students. Also, the number is set
high at 50 in the first and second years and 60 in the third and fourth years in theFaculty of Policy Studies. These numbers should be improved in accordance with thepurpose of having the credit system.

In the doctoral programs in the Graduate School of Nursing, the Graduate School ofSocial Welfare, and the Graduate School of Software and Information Science, somestudents complete all the requirements except the dissertation, and leave theuniversity before completing their dissertation requirement within the time limit set
by the University. Later, when these students submit their dissertations, even though
they do not have enrollment status, they are granted doctoral degrees in the samemanner as those students continuously enrolled. This is an inappropriate use of thesystem that should be corrected. In accordance with the purpose of having doctoral
programs, the University should create measures to enhance the degree completion
within the required time frame.

Enrollment
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The master’s programs and the doctoral programs in the Graduate School of Social
Welfare and in the Graduate School of Software and Information Science identify thetarget persons but not the target students in the admission policy. This should beimproved. The master’s programs and the doctoral programs in the Graduate Schoolof Nursing and the Graduate School of Policy Studies do not have separate admission
policies. This should also be improved.

The ratio of enrolled students to the student enrollment cap is low at 0.13 in themaster’s program and 0.27 in the doctoral program in the Graduate School of Policy
Studies. These numbers should be improved. The ratio of transfer students to thetransfer student admission cap is low at 0.20 and 0.55 in the Faculty of Nursing andthe Faculty of Software and Information Science, respectively. These numbersshould be improved.