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

Osaka Sangyo University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Location: Osaka, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2015
Accreditation Status: Limited （Accreditation Period: April.01.2016 – March.31.2019）2

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Resultsfor Osaka Sangyo University
Overview
Osaka Sangyo University (hereafter, the University), whose predecessor was Osaka
Railway School (founded in 1928), was established in 1965 as Osaka Industrial
University with the faculties of Engineering and Management. In the same year, afterrenaming itself and following a series of installments and reformations of faculties,departments and graduate schools, the University consisted of four faculties (currently,the faculties of Human Environment, Business Management, Economics, andEngineering) as well as four graduate schools (currently, the graduate schools of HumanEnvironment, Business Administration and Distribution, Economics, and Engineering).
In addition to the Chuo and Tobu campuses in Daito City, Osaka Prefecture, theUniversity has the Ikoma Campus. Based on its founding spirit of “Be a great ordinaryperson,” the University has developed its education and research activities by realizing
its “missions,” set by the entire university and graduate schools.
While the University has made efforts to improve its administration and its
university-wide internal quality assurance since a problem arose regarding its entrance
examination in 2009 (hereafter, “the 2009 entrance exam problem”), three issues inneed of improvement have been addressed.
The first problem concerns faculty members and their organization. TheUniversity fell short by one professor of meeting the number of faculty members
required, in principle, by the Standards for Establishment of Universities in 2014. Inaddition, the University fell short by one full-time faculty member in both theDepartment of Business Management in the Faculty of Business Management and theDepartment of International Economics in the Faculty of Economics in 2015. However,despite the persistence of faculty member shortages, the University has not formulated aplan for personnel affairs, which, along with a hiring plan for faculty members, puts themidterm and long-term education and research activities into perspective.
The second problem concerns administrative operation. Although the school
corporation established several organizations to enhance the function of the internal
audit office by 2014, these organizations have not played clear roles. Furthermore, theUniversity has not yet built a system in which all departments cooperate with each otherand opinions are gathered from each department to make decisions. The governance of
the University has not functioned well.
The third problem concerns internal quality assurance. Due to the absence of asystem in which reviews and evaluation results from each office are considered at theuniversity level, for improvements, it must be assumed that university wide self-study
has functioned well and, therefore, the internal quality assurance system has been built
insufficiently.
The three issues mentioned above must be corrected immediately. TheUniversity has made efforts for improvements and reforms, such as its plan to establish
an “educational management organization” in order to implement university
administration from the university-wide perspective and build a review system.
However, it cannot be predicted at this point the impacts these efforts will produce.
Thus, JUAA needs to confirm the results of these efforts and has granted “accreditationwith limited.”
Therefore, JUAA asks the University to work for improvements in accordancewith the general comments and suggestions for re-review. It is expected that theUniversity should make determined efforts for improvements and further development
beginning with this accreditation

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Notable Strengths
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
 It is commendable that the University has enhanced the motivation of students whoalready had interests in certain fields and has given them opportunities to study
with a sense of independence. These efforts include the unique seminars orfieldwork in the departments of Mechanical Engineering for Transportation andUrban Creation Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering. For example, theDepartment of Mechanical Engineering for Transportation has implemented apractical workshop in which students enhance their work abilities through learning
the basic structures of automobiles. The department also began a class, establishedin cooperation with railway companies, designed to give students hands-onexperience. Furthermore, the Department of Urban Creation Engineering has
cultivated the ability for problem solving through group activities.
Social Cooperation and Contribution
 It is commendable that the University has conducted a variety of social contribution
activities involving students and citizens based on a three-party cooperationagreement with Daito City and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the city.
For example, the Daito Industrial Advancement Center has annually published apamphlet in which students have introduced local specialties in Daito City. Also,
the Wellness 2008 Center, a membership-based comprehensive sport club, has beenused by many local residents. Trained students, under the supervision of faculty
members, not only work as instructional staff in exercise classes for residents of avariety of ages and in exercise therapy sessions for cardiac patients, but have also
been involved in the planning and management of programs.
Suggestions for Improvement
Educational Content, Methods, and Outcome
The policies on degree award do not define the learning outcomes required for thecompletion of programs in the following departments: the Department of Economics
in the Faculty of Economics, all departments in the Faculty of Design andEngineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering for Transportation and theDepartment of Urban Creation Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering, theGraduate School of Human Environment, and the Graduate School of Economics.
These departments and graduate schools should develop their own policies. Also, inthe Graduate School of Human Environment, the Graduate School of Economics,
and the Graduate School of Engineering, the master’s and doctoral programs do nothave separate policies on degree award as well as or curriculum design policies. In
these graduate schools, each program should develop its own policy.

The maximum number of credits a student can register for per year is high at 50 for
fourth-year students in the Department of Life Environment in the Faculty of HumanEnvironment; at 50 for all students in the Department of Sports and Health in theFaculty of Human Environment, the Faculty of Design and Engineering, and theDepartment of Mechanical Engineering for Transportation in the Faculty ofEngineering; at 54 for transfer students in all departments in the Faculty of Designand Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering for Transportation;
and at 50 in other departments in the Faculty of Engineering. Also, the maximum
number has not been set for transfer students in the Faculty of Human Environment.

4In addition, in the Faculty of Business Management, all students except first- andsecond-year students in the Department of Business Management, and any
department in the Faculty of Economics, can register beyond the maximum numberof credits for some speciality subject courses that can be counted as required credits
for graduation. This should be improved according to the purpose of a credit-based
degree system.
In all graduate schools, research guidance plans are not communicated well tostudents. This should be improved.

Distinct faculty development (FD) activities for the improvement of educational
content and methods have not been implemented in the graduate schools. This shouldbe improved.

The criteria for examining degree-seeking theses or dissertations have not been
defined in the following programs: the master’s and doctoral programs in theGraduate School of Business Administration and Distribution, the master’s programsin Urban creation engineering major and Electronics major, Information major, andCommunication Engineering major, and the master’s and doctoral programs inInformation system engineering major in the Graduate School of Engineering. Also,in the Graduate School of Economics, the content of the criteria are almost identicalfor the master’s and doctoral programs. Each program should develop its own
criteria.

Enrollment

In all programs in the graduate schools, the master’s and doctoral programs do nothave separate admission policies. This should be improved.

The average of the ratios of the last five years of enrolled freshmen to the freshman
admission cap is high at 1.20 in both the Department of Mechanical Engineering andthe Department of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineering in theFaculty of Engineering. In addition, the ratio of enrolled students to the student
enrollment cap is low at 0.88 in the Department of Culture and Communication andthe Department of Life Environment in the Faculty of Human Environment, and in
the Department of International Economics in the Faculty of Economics, 0.47 in themaster’s program and 0.06 in the doctoral program in the Graduate School ofEngineering, and 0.11 in the doctoral program in the Graduate School of Human
Environment. These numbers should be improved.

The ratio of transfer students to the transfer student admission cap is low at 0.43 in
the Department of Culture and Communication, 0.35 in the Department of Life
Environment in the Faculty of Human Environment, 0.45 in the Department ofEconomics, 0.60 in the Department of International Economics in the Faculty ofEconomics, 0.38 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering for Transportation,
0.20 in the Department of Urban Creation Engineering, and 0.50 in the Departmentof Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineering in the Faculty ofEngineering, but high at 1.73 in the Department of Business Management in theFaculty of Business Management. These numbers should be improved.

Student Support

The consequences for a wide range of harassment offenses have not been sufficient,and students have not been informed about the counseling office.

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Administration and Finance
The financial basis of education and research in the University has not been wellestablished, and the University should formulate mid-term and long-term financial
plans and implement them incrementally.

Area of Serious Concern
Faculty and Faculty Organization
In 2015, the Department of Business Management in the Faculty of Business
Management and the Department of International Economics in the Faculty ofEconomics should hire one more full-time faculty member for each department tosatisfy the University Establishment Standards. While the shortage of faculty
members in the Department of Economics in 2014 has been improved, the shortageof full-time faculty members or professors persists in other departments. TheUniversity must implement appropriate hiring practices hereafter.

Administration and FinanceIn regards to the decision making across the University, the liaison meeting, attended
by departmental chairs and administrative managers and at which adoption ofproposals for the university council is decided, is not defined in the regulations, andthe decision-making process for important University matters is not clear. Also, theschool corporation reinforced the functions of the Internal Audit Office, the School’s
Strategic Meeting, and the Teaching and Research Committee, but theseorganizations do not have clear roles, and the system for implementing decisions andmonitoring implementation status is not clearly defined. Thus, they are not effective.
A system in which all departments cooperate with each other and opinions from eachdepartment are gathered to facilitate decision making has not been established. TheUniversity must implement a clear decision-making process, and establish functional
governance.

Internal Quality Assurance
The self-study of the entire university does not consider the content of activities ineach department, and self-study implemented at each department level does not haveproper information to indicate their implementation status. Despite the fact that theUniversity experienced a serious problem in this area in the past, the University lacks
the well-functioned system to assure quality to society. The University does nothave a policy for internal quality assurance and has not developed a policy or review
system in several areas. The University must promptly build an internal quality
assurance system, including a system and process of self-study that serves for
improvements and reforms of the University, and have it function properly.