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

Josai International University

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: Private

Accreditation Status
Year of the Review: 2023
Accreditation Status: unaccredited

Location: Chiba, Japan

Josai International University

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results
for Josai International University

Overview
Josai International University defines its educational philosophy as “developing aninternational character and mindset” based on the university corporation’s founding spiritof “character building through learning.” Under the educational philosophy, the faculties
set forth the purpose of “contributing to the advancement of the standards of highereducation and academic research in Japan, and to the further development of humanculture,” and the graduate schools state their purpose as “teaching and researching thetheories and applications of specialized academic fields, and contributing to theadvancement of culture through such studies." A medium-term plan (AY2020-AY2024)
under the medium- to long-term vision has been laid out to achieve the University’s
educational philosophy as well as the purposes of the faculties and graduate schools. TheUniversity undertakes various initiatives by formulating and implementing its annual
activity plan.
The University has established three diploma, curriculum, and admission
policies based on the above educational philosophy and purposes, and has designed thecurricula under these policies. Curriculum maps and course charts, designed to clarify thepositions of lesson subjects, ensure the curricula are sequenced for students to takecourses in a systematic way. The Basic Common Subject Group for All Faculties offers
cross-faculty subjects combining liberal arts and science. The student learning outcomesstated in the diploma policy are inspected and assessed in a multifaceted way based on
grades, study abroad experiences, internships, and pass rates for certification andqualification exams.
To support student learning, the University has undertaken an outstanding
initiative in an academic advisory system in place for more than 30 years since its
founding. Full-time faculty members are assigned as advisors to individual students toprovide university-wide learning assistance, including pre-enrollment introductory
education, freshman education, course and study guidance, and career support.
Counseling services are also offered based on each student’s concerns and specific needs.
This system is commendable as a distinctive and outstanding initiative producing such
positive outcomes as contributing to the downward trend in the University’s withdrawalrate. Moreover, the JIU-Community Liaison Center (CLiCs) plays a central role in1

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conducting various activities for the “promotion of industry and tourism,” “regionaldevelopment and community revitalization,” “health promotion and improvements inwelfare,” and “development of regional human resources.” It is commendable that theUniversity is actively involved in a wide range of community-based social cooperationand contribution activities while utilizing the characteristics of each faculty andencouraging student participation.
Regarding internal quality assurance, the University has established auniversity-wide policy and formed the University-Wide Assessment and Evaluation
Committee as an organization overseeing self-studies (self-evaluations). Under thecommittee, a self-study (self-evaluation) system has been developed for the faculties,
graduate schools, administrative organizations, and other bodies. The IR Promotion
Office conducts planning, surveys, liaison, coordination, and other administrative work,and the University-Wide Assessment and Evaluation Committee carries out improvement
measures after receiving the self-study (self-evaluation) results. However, the University
does not clarify the authority and roles of the organizations related to internal quality
assurance, including the University-Wide Assessment and Evaluation Committee,
University Management Meeting, Academic Management Meeting, and IR Committee.
This situation should be addressed with the authority and roles of these bodies clearly
defined. Moreover, the Regulations Pertaining to Self-Evaluation stipulate that theUniversity-Wide Assessment and Evaluation Committee issues advice andrecommendations for improvement to each division based on the inspection andassessment results, but these tasks are actually handled through interviews by the vicepresident who only checks the progress of each division’s improvement plans. The
University should address this issue by providing each organization with feedback andother support for improvement to effectively operate the internal quality assurance
mechanism.
There are serious problems the University needs to address, however, in termsof faculty organization. The number of professors required based on the University’s total
admission capacity has failed to meet the Standards for Establishment of Universities
since AY2020. The University was short five professors as of September 2023. The
number of faculty members required by the Standards for Establishment of Graduate
Schools was also low in AY2022, but this problem was corrected in AY2023. The
University is expected to overcome the shortfall in professors required by the Standards
for Establishment of Universities through recruitment and promotion in April 2024.
However, the promotion screening procedures conducted in AY2023 differ from thosestated in the Regulations Pertaining to Promotion Review for Full-Time Faculty Members

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at Josai International University. Although the regulations stipulate that consultation issought from the University-Wide Faculty Evaluation Committee and that the president
receives reports from the committee, promotion screening is actually conducted by theUniversity Management Meeting consisting of the president, vice president, generalmanager, and other officials deemed necessary by the president. These procedures areinconsistent with the regulations. In addition, the University’s personnel plan refers onlyto the number of faculty members for each faculty, with no consideration given to thenumber of professors based on the University’s total admission capacity and other items
required by the Standards for Establishment of Universities. The personnel plan presented
at the time of JUAA’s site visit in September 2023 showed that the University had failed
to take into account the shortage of professors as a result of retirement at the end ofAY2023, but only made good the shortfall pointed out by evaluators in JUAA’s latest
evaluation and accreditation process. This situation highlights the inadequacy of theUniversity’s personnel plan. Regarding the above problem with the promotion screening
procedures, the University explained that revision to its internal regulations had not kept
pace with actual conditions, but promotion screening should be conducted after theregulations on procedures are properly established. The University needs to correct thissituation by formulating an appropriate faculty personnel plan, revising the regulations,and accordingly screening faculty members for promotion. The University is also
expected to effectively operate its internal quality assurance system, periodically examine
the appropriateness of its faculty organization, maintain the organization with the numberof faculty members required by law, and ensure the adequacy of personnel planning,
recruitment, promotion, and other matters.
There are other areas of improvement the University should address as well.
The basic concept of curriculum implementation is not stated in the curriculum policy,
and this issue should be addressed. Some graduate schools accept themed research as analternative to master’s theses, but do not specify the screening criteria for the research,and this issue needs to be corrected. Some faculties and departments have low ratios ofstudent enrollment to the student enrollment cap as well as low ratios of freshmanenrollment to the freshman enrollment cap, and their student quotas must be thoroughlymanaged.
In the years ahead, the University should appropriately streamline theorganizations promoting internal quality assurance and properly operate the universitywide PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle. Through these efforts, the University isexpected to improve and enhance the quality of its educational and research activities,
thereby progressing further.

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Notable Strengths
Student Support

The University has introduced an academic advisory system to support students. After
fully informing students of the advisors’ roles, supervisors are assigned to individual
students to provide course consultations, study guidance, career support, and otherassistance based on their concerns and specific needs. The University has also adopted
the Withdrawal Prevention Alert System within the framework of the advisory system tolower withdrawal rates as stated in the medium-term plan. The IR Promotion Office tracks
the attendance of certain classes and shares the data with the advisors. When absenteeism
is found, advisors make individual contacts for interviews and other support tailored toeach need. It is commendable that these efforts have produced positive outcomes, such ascontributing to lower withdrawal rates.

Suggestions for Improvement
Internal Quality Assurance The Regulations Pertaining to Self-Evaluation stipulate that the University-WideAssessment and Evaluation Committee issues advice and recommendations forimprovement to each division based on the inspection and assessment results, butthese tasks are handled through interviews by the vice president who only checks theprogress of the divisions’ improvement plans. Items identified as university-wideissues from the inspection and assessment results are addressed by the Academic
Management Meeting in cooperation with each division. To deal with this situation,
the University should review the roles of the organizations promoting internal quality
assurance and establish ways to issue advice and recommendations to each division
based on the inspection and assessment results, thereby providing proper support forthe divisions’ improvement efforts while effectively operating the university-wide
PDCA cycle.
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes4

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All faculties and graduate schools do not specify the basic concept of curriculum
implementation in their curriculum policies. This issue should be addressed.

Recommendation
Educational Program and Learning Outcomes
The Master’s Program in the Graduate School of Management and Information
Sciences and the Graduate School of International Administration do not specify thescreening criteria for the outcomes of themed research. This issue must be corrected.
Student Enrollment

The ratios of student enrollment to the student enrollment cap are low at 0.88 in theDepartment of International Exchange Studies, Faculty of International Humanities,
0.57 in the Department of Social Work Studies, Faculty of Social Work Studies, and0.68 in the Department of Medical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The average ratios of freshman enrollment to the freshman enrollment cap over thepast five years are also low at 0.55 in the Department of Social Work Studies, Facultyof Social Work Studies, 0.66 in the Department of Medical Pharmacy, Faculty ofPharmaceutical Sciences, and 0.85 in the Department of Tourism, Faculty of Tourism.
These ratios must be improved with the faculties’ student quotas thoroughly managed.

Faculty and Faculty Organization
 The number of professors required based on the University’s total admission capacityand other items has failed to meet the Standards for Establishment of Universities
since AY2020, with a shortfall of five professors as of September 2023. In response,
the University is expected to meet the number required by the Standards for
Establishment of Universities by hiring three and promoting 16 to the position ofprofessor in April 2024. However, in terms of promoting faculty members, thescreening procedures differ from those stated in the Regulations Pertaining toPromotion Review for Full-Time Faculty Members at Josai International University.
In addition, some faculty members do not necessarily satisfy the promotion
requirements stipulated by the University, indicating an inadequate promotion

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process. There are also discrepancies between the Regulations Pertaining toPromotion Review for Full-Time Faculty Members at Josai International University
and each meeting body’s regulations pertaining to promotion screening. This issue
must be corrected with each regulation reviewed to ensure the faculty organization
is well-planned and appropriate based on the prescribed procedures.
 The faculties, graduate schools, and other programs have formulated the Faculty
Organization Development Plan, but there is no plan to organize faculty members
from a university-wide perspective. The number of faculty members expected toretire at the end of AY2023 was clear as of September 2023 during JUAA’s latest
evaluation and accreditation, but the Personnel Plan--April 2024 presented at JUAA’ssite visit does not take this number into account, indicating the University’s poor
faculty organization planning. The University must correct this situation by securingand maintaining the number of faculty members required by law, while formulating
an appropriate personnel plan to arrange the faculty organization necessary for its
educational and research activities.

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