1. Management Accreditation Review Results
The School meets all or most standards. However, there seems to be a space for improvement, specifically concerning the Mission statement and Strategies, as well as the interconnection between the “Improvement Issues”, “Improvement Initiatives” and “Action Plans”.
“ABEST21 hereby certifies that the Institute of Business and Accounting, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan, has generally met ABEST21 Management Accreditation Standards and the quality maintenance and improvement of education and research in its MBA Degree Programs are assessed as good. The School’s KAIZEN plans are good and quality maintenance and prospects for the improvement of education and research are promising. Accreditation commences April 1, 2015 for a five-year period.”
2. Good Practice in Management Education
“Comprehensive MBA Programs for pursuing Mastery for Service”
The primary commendable feature of the School is its emphasis on the practical education, which is supported by the proportion of the practice-based faculty to the academic faculty. This definitely qualifies as a very good practice. The curriculum structure can be also classified as a good practice in management education. Another commendable feature of the School is its firm intent to maintain small class sizes, which is indeed conductive to a higher quality of education and higher student satisfaction.
3. Matters to be noted
The School appears to have a governance issue which might prevent it from developing a clear strategy. Currently the Business School is a part of the Institute of Business and Accounting (IBA). IBA incorporates two professional graduate schools: the Business School and the Accounting School. These two schools are very different in many respects, including the potential for internationalization. Since internationalization and attracting more foreign students is a top priority for the Business School and Kwansei Gakuin University as a whole, we suggest reforming the IBA into the Business School consisting of two departments – accounting and business. This will balance the decision-making power and gear it towards the international perspective and the MBA education for working professionals and managers, putting internationalization on the list of the top priorities of this reformed unit.