Accreditation

Chapter 1: Internal Quality Assurance and Management

• Standard 1: Academic Unit Management
• Standard 2: Governance System
• Standard 3: Self-Check/Self-Evaluation
• Standard 4: Staff-Development

The school have a multilayered way to ensure management system appropriate for its type, size and function as an educational and research organization.

The school provides clarity on the decision-making process for management-related issues and ensure effective collaboration between the committees handling administrative matters and the faculty meetings that review them.

One of the contributing success factors to the school is because of its governance. It had been confirmed during the interview with the President of Waseda University and Dean of Waseda Business School. Because of such structure in term of governance, the school has positioned itself as fair and transparent to the overall organization.

As stated in the report given to the PRT Team and it is clearly indicated in the website that the school has gone through the requirements of the accreditation bodies. Therefore, the issue of self-check and self-evaluation have being done systematically dan periodically as required by accreditation bodies. The working committees have been appointed according to the need of such information in line with the self-check and self-evaluation perspectives. This is a good action as the school would like to get as accurate information as possible from the members and staffs of the faculty.

Most of the administrative staff of the school are very well trained. They are well equipped with the skill needed as observed during the interview. The staff can communicate very well in English and it is in line with the school development in term of globalizing society and culture. In order to enhance the staffs’ global communication especially in English, the school encourages them to participate in the training and workshop in which it will enhance the staffs’ competencies particularly in communication. The school is also consistent in maintaining the staff’s diversity in which the recruitments being made from various countries such as Taiwan, Chinas and other countries with the main preference is good in English proficiency. In addition, the school conducts annual evaluations to assess staff performance, using the criteria set by the school and it is made known to the staff.

• No fundamental issues in this aspect but the school should continue to improve so that the management education and research will always at the excellent level.
• Job rotational is good but little bit an uneasy for some staffs.

Issues to be improved:

• The school should foster ongoing dialogue within individual committees and encourage the sharing of information across committees. Moreover, the School has to remain committed in expanding and diversifying the committees to ensure a wider spectrum of perspectives and expertise.
• The school should consider the time factor in decision making especially when it involved with very important aspect. Furthermore, more engagement is needed among the committees in various levels so that the decision can be made effectively. Hence, the school could always strengthen the system in forming better the management education and research scenario.
• The school should get more input or feedbacks from the faculty members in obtaining comprehensive and broader issues in self-check and self-evaluation activities.
• The job rotation practiced by the school has negative and positive responses by the staffs particularly the durations of service involve in job rotation and too short notice (period to make preparation) to move to the other department.

• Although giving professors autonomy is a good practice, the school need a stronger decision-making mechanism to address the issues in quality assurance.
• The school could allow staff to express their concerns.

The School’s Feedback:

Thank you for thoughtful feedbacks. Matters such as staff rotation and the decision-making process within the school are under the sole jurisdiction of the university headquarters, and the school does not have the authority to decide on these issues. However, we will continue to make efforts to foster good communication between staff and faculty, and to create a work environment where staff feel comfortable expressing their opinions.

PRT Response:

Thank you for the feedbacks regarding staff rotation and decision-making process within the system as well as good communication in the school perspective. It is hoped that the school will further strengthen the other aspects as well.

Chapter 2: Mission Statement

• Standard 5: Mission Statement
• Standard 6: Financial Strategies

The school’s mission statement is clear and it is well translated in the programs. Based on the interview, most of faculty members, staffs and students were in the know about the mission statement and they were able to explain in their context.

It is also observed that the school’s mission statement supports the mission of Waseda University. It is in line to each other in nurturing professionals to meet the needs of the globalizing economic society.

As one of the leading Business School in Japan, the school definitely has a proper financial planning in order to realize its mission statement. The school receives the budget from the university and the amount will depend on the approval by the committees at the university level as well as the justification for the amount needed is also required.

The school has creatively established the Executive Programs and it is successively offered to the students. This is another strategy that being created by the school in order to increase funding so that it could be utilized to have several significant activities and to further develop Waseda Business School in line with school mission.

• The mission has been well-defined and well-cascaded.
• No major concerns

Issues to be improved:

For the school’s improvement, it is suggested that the school could make the mission and vision statements more visible in school’s building and some other strategic platforms.

• There are no issues to be improved.

The School’s Feedback:

Thank you for your feedbacks.

PRT Response:

Most of the issues in mission statement are well taken care of. However, the school needs to continuously monitored the progress so that the activities of the school are in line with the school mission.

Chapter 3: Curriculum

• Standard 7: Learning Goals
• Standard 8: Curriculum Policy and Management of Curriculum
• Standard 9: Quality Improvement of Curriculum
• Standard 10: Online Education
• Standard 11: Diploma Policy and Learning Outcomes
• Standard 12: Globalization of Curriculum

Based on the mission statement, the school manages to translate it into the Learning Goals (LG) and Learning Outcomes (LO) for all programs. Information regarding the LO and LG has been made known to stakeholders through several platform. The school also has the system to enhance communication with the students in order to facilitate them to access to the available information. By having these initiatives, the school can disseminate the information effectively.

The school has specific committees to review the curriculum when it is needed to do so and more input will be gathered from faculty members. Based on curriculum policy, all the subjects in the MSc in Finance program are listed according to their priority. In this context, the students are being provided with core subjects. On the other hand, they will select the elective subjects according to their interest. The Curriculum Committee has a wide role in the school setting.

The school has initiated creative way in making the learning and teaching processes attractive and interesting in order to continue provide the quality of educational programs to the stakeholders. The school is also particular regarding the number of students in every class in which the sizes follow the certain predetermine criteria. This is a good action by the school in making the environment more conducive in class. On the other hand, the dissemination of information regarding student credits can be assessed by faculty members through several platform and this is a good way of managing that matter.

The school has extensively prepared the students with the online education and digitizing the learning environment. In other word, the school has diversified its investment in raising the overall level of digitization in line with the current need from the industry as well fulfilling the demand globally. For example, the school has installed HyFlex equipment in Classrooms 901 and 913 of building 11 and install neat bar pro and neat frame on 8th floor of building 26. The school has also installed extra microphone in building 3 and connect classroom cameras as well as microphones to zoom on classroom PCs. In addition, the school has also provided the support system to assist the students in their learning processes as well as to create interest in the study. All these efforts and initiatives be placed in the school with the primary purpose to maintain the quality of its teaching and learning and strive for an improved educational effect.

The school has provided the Diploma policy and it needs to be followed by all students. All committees involved in the school have to join working with others in order to make sure the programs are always up to date and the potential students are appropriate enough for the programs. In general, the Diploma Policy and Learning Outcomes (LO) of the programs have been well established in the school and it has been supported by Dean and Management Team of the school.

• The school needs to focus more on the development of the financial sector and equip the students with updated knowledge and skills to complement traditional financial knowledge. The MSc in Finance students also expect to have more exposure to the industry. Furthermore, the school can also seek feedback from graduates’ employers to improve the curriculum.
• No major concerns

Issues to be improved:

• As for the improvement, it is suggested that the school should place the mission and vision statements in strategic locations so that it visible to the stakeholders.
• The school should design its curriculum with the aims to expand the learning opportunities. However, the school does not offer to the students to take online courses of overseas universities via online classes.
• In term of website, the school has partially fulfilled the criterion. It is because of there are many websites that the students have to view to find such information about the faculty or school.

The School’s Feedback:

Thank you for helpful comments. As is pointed out, students have to check variety kinds of websites, such as Waseda website, moodle, and other websites delivered by each service center, such as IT center, education center, and so on. Most of these websites are designed by university service section, but we believe we can assist students to arrange their best learning environment.

PRT Response:

Thank you for the feedback on the website. However, the PRT Team would like to know more regarding the school initiatives in relation to the other identified issues.

Chapter 4: Students

• Standard 13: Admission Policy and Student Selection
• Standard 14: Student Encouragement and Support
• Standard 15: Student Body Diversity

According to the admission department during the interview, the school has the processes to review the profile and it will be reviewed periodically. This is to make sure that all prospective candidates be given fair admission opportunities and most of them are fit into the programs. All the information regarding the admission including qualification of applicants is made known to the them. With regards the number of students who enrolled into the program, most of the time more applications be accepted but only the applicants with the best criteria will be chosen.

In addition, the school has created such measures in order to create more interest among diverse student body. The students have also been provided with financial support (assistance) from Waseda Business School, Government agencies and many others. This information was being confirmed by the students during the interview session with them.

• Overall, students and alumni have had good experiences studying in this programme. Some notes: all MSc in Finance students are international students; there are no Japanese students. This is probably due to the English proficiency requirements for enrollment. Furthermore, student services are centralized at the university level, which might burden the students with using the services.
• It is quite challenging for international students to get a job in Japan due to language barriers. Some student prefers to have more Japanese students in their classes.

Issues to be improved:

• Career Development Center has to be more proactive in helping the students to find jobs since the school is having close relationship with industry. It is expected that Career Development Center initiate more activities which enable the students to increase their knowledge and exposure in relation to industries.
• The school more focus for inbound students rather than outbound. The school has to be more balanced in this context. However, it is a good action by the school to review the system periodically in order to increase the interest among the students to participate in the mobility programs.

• Promote more domestics student to join the program.

The School’s Feedback:

Thank you for feedbacks. Although most Japanese students especially in part-time programs don’t require English communication skills and therefore are not interested in the opportunities to study abroad, we will continue to balance the number of inbound and outbound students.
Because of language barrier, it is surely difficult for foreign students to find a job in Japan, and they are much interested in learning Japanese. We will seek various opportunities to foster communication between Japanese speaking students and English speaking students to help them find jobs in Japan.

PRT Response:

Thank you for the feedbacks. It seems the school will find the way in solving the highlighted issues and the PRT Team look forward to the positive initiatives.

Chapter 5: Faculty

• Standard 16: Faculty Structure
• Standard 17: Faculty Qualifications
• Standard 18: Maintenance of Education and Research Environment
• Standard 19: Faculty Development
• Standard 20: Faculty Diversity

The school has several approaches in maintaining the education and research environment including the distribution of workloads to all faculty members by considering the research activities as another priority. It was also being mentioned during the interview session that the faculty members were provided with certain research grants, funding for publications as well as other activities related to research. The faculty members are also given the duration of sabbatical leave up to 2 years in order to do research activities. Furthermore, the application of electronic media is essential in the school and it is considered a norm among the lecturers and students.

The school has recruited faculty members who contribute by sharing their practical insights and converting their collective experiences into actionable knowledge through generalization and theorization. The school is characterized by a strong emphasis on professional experience, balanced with academic qualifications, which has become a hallmark of the school’s distinctive approach to education. Furthermore, the rules and standards in recruiting and promoting the faculty members are clear and transparent. Furthermore, the evaluation and reward system are already in place and it was being clearly highlighted during the interview session.

The school provide the support to the faculty members who want to enhance their working including teaching abilities systematically. The information regarding development among faculty members is made known as well as available to everyone in the school. In other words, the school has well planned with regards the development of faculty members particularly in their teaching.

The faculty members have various background based on the information gathered during interview. Most of them are having international exposures either during their study or working experiences in international companies. The school has also the opportunities for faculty members involved with the international exchange with several universities systematically. Furthermore, the school also invited the lecturers or teachers from international to share their expertise to the students.

• The only challenge in faculty aspect is on the diversity in terms of gender, age and nationality. There are several initiatives launched and there has been results (the current recruitment hires two female professors). However, more initiatives need to be introduced.
• The school provides every opportunity to faculty to develop themselves. However, there is a no minimum requirement for professor to attend training, hence there is lack of balance of all professors getting enough trainings.

Issues to be improved:

• Research Achievements for the past five years by Participating Faculty members are not balanced. It is hoped that the research activities, educational activities and social contribution activities will become balanced in the future.
• The school is in the process of recruiting additional female’s faculty members. In addition, the school is planning to diversify its recruitment base on age and nationality in future structure. It hopes that the gap in age, gender, and nationality among faculty members in the school could be reduced.

• Expand the initiatives to attract and hire female, young, non-Japanese faculty staff.
• Create a system to encourage professors to attend training.

The School’s Feedback:

Thank you for advice. We will expand initiatives to hire female, younger, non-Japanese faculty staff and continue to motivate professors to participate in training sessions.

PRT Response:

Thank you for the feedback. It is good if the school can highlight the initiatives in solving the identified issues.