Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results forProfessional Graduate Business School

Graduate School of Economics and BusinessHokkaido University,Division of Accounting

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: National

Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2018
Accreditation Status: accredited （Accreditation Period: April.01.2019 – March.31.2024）

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Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results
for the Graduate School of Economics and Business,
Hokkaido University, Division of Accounting
The Graduate School of Economics and Business, Hokkaido University, Division ofAccounting (hereafter DA), sets its purpose as cultivating accounting professionals witha high level of expertise, a broad perspective, and a sense of social responsibility andethics who can play a key role in economic society today. In order to achieve thispurpose, DA focuses equally on global perspectives and the regional needs of
Hokkaido, placing importance on fostering accounting professionals who are active at
the forefront of business, especially in the international arena, and who can take root inregional communities and contribute by responding to local demands. This is one ofDA’s distinctive features.
In terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, DA specifies the objective ofcultivating accounting professionals defined by deep expertise systematically acquiredin the fields of financial accounting, managerial accounting, and auditing; the ability touse knowledge for practical applications; an elevated sense of ethics and socialresponsibility; the ability to negotiate, persuade and communicate; leadership skills tomanage an organization; expertise and flexibility to deal with leading and applicative
accounting issues; international common sense and language skills to respond toglobalization; profound knowledge about information technology and information
processing; and basic knowledge in adjacent fields, including economics and businessadministration. DA offers a unique program that allows students to acquire the above
knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for accounting professionals who play a keyrole in today’s economic society. Another distinctive point is the small-group education
comprehensively implemented by DA to fulfill individual students’ needs throughsupervisor guidance, and give students the opportunity to work on presentations,discussions and group work in many classes.
Despite these strengths, there are several quality improvement issues that DA
needs to address. First, even though DA offers subjects that help cultivate people withglobal views, only a small number of students take these subjects, contrary toexpectation. The Japan University Accreditation Association (JUAA) expects that DA
will make additional efforts to improve its educational program.
It is also expected that DA, which has not introduced its own internshipprogram, will seek to further enhance its practical education to bridge theory andpractice, taking into account new educational methods, including an internship programand field studies. In this respect, DA is expected to make full use of its regional
networks and strong brand, as indicated by its cooperative relationship with theJapanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (JICPA) Hokkaido, to conduct
external class assessments. Moreover, DA has set a standard style for its syllabus, which
includes course objectives, goals to be attained, course plans, content and volume ofpreparations and reviews, standards and methods of assessing academic achievement,
textbooks, and class schedules. But some faculty members write the syllabus in detail,while others do not. It is expected that the division will create a guideline for writing asyllabus and a third-party review mechanism to encourage a common understanding
among faculty members as to the importance of writing an appropriate syllabus. Inaddition, DA asks students to participate in class evaluation surveys in order to checkthe quality of teaching, but the survey is currently conducted for only classes with morethan five students enrolled, and the survey is not carried out for more than a few classes.
As surveys are an important tool for providing feedback, DA needs to expand the scopeof classes subject to the survey or consider other evaluation methods.
Another concern is the admission policy. It is commendable that DA makes
efforts to ensure the quality of enrolled students while inviting more applicants to apply

3by making available three types of entrance examinations: a general written
examination that mainly examines the applicants’ academic achievements; a special
examination for adult applicants with work experience and high-achieving students,
regardless of the undergraduate courses or universities they were enrolled in; and a
special selective examination for high-achieving Hokkaido University students,
regardless of the undergraduate courses they were enrolled in. The admission policy is
set for each of the three entrance examinations, but differences among them are not easy
to discern. JUAA expects that DA will use appropriate expressions with regards to its
admission policy in order not to mislead applicants.
DA has introduced an improvement system based on the self-study andevaluation results. In this system, the evaluation committee discusses possible
improvements with the relevant faculty members, taking into account the opinions of
the advisory board, and forwards the improvements to Faculty Council of Accounting
School for further discussion. However, the system is not fully effective in the sensethat self-study and evaluation are conducted based on the medium- and long-term
visions and strategies because specific objectives and implementation plans have to beset in the future. DA is expected to develop conditions that will allow self-studies andevaluations to be carried out strategically, leading to further improvement of its
education, research and other activities.