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

GIFU COLLEGE OF NURSING

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

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2017
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.01.2018 – March.31.2025）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results
for Gifu College of Nursing

Overview
Gifu College of Nursing (hereafter, the College) was founded in 2000 as a single faculty
university with the Undergraduate School of Nursing. It became a public university corporationin 2010 after the Master's Course of Graduate School of Nursing was established in 2004 andthe Doctorate Course of Graduate School of Nursing was established in 2006. The College
conducts educational and research activities based on its mission and purpose of “educatingnursing professionals who can contribute to human health and welfare and engage in high-level
practical research for improvement and reform in everyday nursing services provided bynursing professionals.”
Under the guidance of its Academic Affairs Committee, the College is taking prompt
actions on the suggestions made in the previous accreditation review by Japan UniversityAccreditation Association (JUAA), including announcing the results of class evaluations tostudents, content descriptions in the syllabus, and the method to assess academic achievement,
which was not made sufficiently clear to students. Moreover, its Graduate School Committee isdeliberating upon and formulating degree award policy for the Doctorate Course of Graduate
School of Nursing. To promote research activities, the College is studying a system thatenables students to focus on research and plans to implement it along with other improvements
and reforms.
The College is undertaking Faculty Development (FD) under the guidance of its
Faculty Development Committee. It holds active discussions on themes that can help make realcontribution to education and presents the results in the form of a report. This has created aneffective cycle for improvement in educational program and instruction. Moreover, the College
has established an “Integrated Seminar on Nursing” subject for final year students at theUndergraduate School of Nursing based on the issues drawn out from FD. In this subject,students compare the goal (to be attained) at the time of graduation to their status andthemselves propose a learning plan to be followed until graduation, independently carrying out
activities to deepen learning. It is commendable that the College uses this unique educational
method to strengthen abilities that serve as the base for lifelong learning. The College also
contributes to society through collaborative research projects, practical research training innursing and supports for nursing research in Gifu Prefecture carried out by the Nursing

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Research and Collaboration Center. It is commendable that these activities, including
collaboration and joint studies with nursing professionals, development of supervision andresearch training methods in response to the actual situation and promotion of lifelong learning
among nursing professionals in the prefecture, connect to improvement in the quality ofnursing services in the prefecture and enhancement of practical abilities of nursing
professionals. However, the College needs to address some issues. The admission policies ofthe Graduate School of Nursing are not separate for the Master’s Course and the DoctorateCourse. This should be rectified, and separate admission policies should be formulated for eachCourse. The College should also formulate separate examination criteria for the Master’s theses
and the research reports for the Certified Nurse Specialist course, which are the same at present.
The College is set to complete 20 years in 2020. It is in the process of formulating theThird Mid-Term Plans with its vision for the next 10 years. It is expected that these efforts willlead to effective self-study and the university will continue contributing to improvement innursing services in the community by developing nursing professionals who can play a role inadvancing human health and welfare.
Notable Strengths
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
To enable students to work on improving their abilities, the University clarifies the goal (tobe attained) by the time of graduation and holds active discussions between faculty
members, as part of its FD activities led by the Faculty Development Committee, based on
survey results related to practical training for nursing professional after graduation. As aresult, it set up the Integrated Seminar on Nursing for the fourth-year students, in which
students themselves create a learning plan to follow until graduation, self-check the statusof achievement through activities undertaken in the seminar with regard to the goal (to beattained) by the time graduation, hold consultations with faculty members, clarify issues
and take next actions. It is commendable that students are able to foster the ability to keep
improving their skills as nursing professionals independently and throughout their life byrepeating this process.

Social Cooperation and Contribution
The Nursing Research and Collaboration Center aims to promote joint research by

4conducting research activities directly related to nursing professionals and everyday
nursing work at hospitals and clinics in the prefecture, practical research training in
nursing with the objective to encourage lifelong learning among nursing professionals in
the prefecture and collaborative study with nurses in Gifu Prefecture in which nurses
engage in practical improvement and research and share the experiences with each other.
In the practical research training in nursing project in particular, the Center supports
improvement in management skills of nurse administrators to increase specialization innursing. It develops appropriate methods of instruction keeping in mind practical situation
on-site and encourages independent problem-solving by nursing professionals. It iscommendable that these activities connect to improvement in nursing services throughcollaborations between nursing professionals in the prefecture and improvement inpractical skills of nursing professionals.
Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
The University should also formulate separate examination criteria for the Master’s theses
and the research reports for the Certified Nurse Specialist course of the Graduate School ofNursing, as the existing criteria are same for both.

Enrollment
The admission policies of the Graduate School of Nursing are not separate for the Master’s
Course and the Doctorate Course. This should be rectified, and a separate admission
policy should be formulated for each Course.