Certified Evaluation and Accreditation Results forProfessional Graduate Business School

Hosei Business School of Innovation Management

Basic Information of the Institution
Ownership: PrivateLocation: Tokyo, JapanAccreditation 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 Resultsfor Hosei Business School of Innovation Management
Hosei Business School of Innovation Management (hereafter, HBSIM) sets its purposeas “cultivating people of talent who can bring about innovation in society and business,”
with a particular aim to foster “entrepreneurs in the true sense,” who have “high ethics,ambitions, and the ability to calculate risks” and “pursue innovation with bold ideas andthe will to take action.”
In order to achieve the above stated purpose, HBSIM provides unique education
through the “project method,” which is a distinctive educational approach focused on
cultivating the ability to generate innovative business ideas for problem solution and newbusinesses. At the same time and consistent with its purpose, the school has established aunique faculty organization that allows academic and practitioner faculty members towork together to run “projects” in order to offer education that bridges theory and practice
to “create ‘practical wisdom’ that can solve problems in society” as stated in its vision. It
is also commendable that HBSIM gives former graduates an opportunity to contribute toimproving the quality of the “project method.”Moreover, it is commendable that the Research Institute for Innovation
Management (hereafter, RIIM) functions as a think tank for the school and provides fulltime faculty members and former graduates with a venue for continuing their research. It
is expected that RIIM will deepen its relationship with current students by supporting
their studies in the future.
To fulfill the above-mentioned purpose, HBSIM was established as the first oneyear graduate business school in Japan, followed by creation of the two-year MBA
program, the course for training Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultant,and the Global MBA Program (GMBA). This organizational framework enables
interdisciplinary education among the programs. However, there is concern that thedistinctive characteristics of HBSIM as “a one-year school enhancing the employabilityof adult students” could be weakened.
Additionally, there are some issues related to adapting HBSIM’s purpose to thechanging IT environment surrounding SMEs as well as setting the degree award policy,
curriculum design and implementation policy, and admission policy appropriate to thedegree to be conferred. Moreover, HBSIM does not offer basic or fundamental subjects
on innovation even though its pedagogical uniqueness lies in promoting innovation andcreating practical wisdom for innovation. It is expected that the school will revise its
curriculum in order to achieve its purpose by offering the above subjects. In addition, thenumber of credits required for course completion for the one-year and two-year MBA
courses is 48, while the number for the GMBA course is 38. As the same degree isconferred for all the three courses, it is expected that this disparity will be corrected
immediately.
HBSIM was established as the first one-year graduate business school in Japan
with the purpose of cultivating people of talent over the short term who can bring about
innovation required by society in the future. This mission at the time of its founding has
remained unique to the school even though some changes have been made to its program
since then. Consequently, social expectations as an institution cultivating talented people
are high for HBSIM. The Japan University Accreditation Association (JUAA) expects
HBSIM, which regards innovation as the starting point of education and aims to foster“entrepreneurs in the true sense,” to develop further as a professional graduate businessschool that can respond to the expectations of society.