1. ABEST21 Accreditation Result
ABEST21 Accreditation Result of the Master of Business Administration program at the Graduate School of Business and Finance, Waseda University is a Rank A as follows:“The School’s educational and research activities have met all or most ABEST21 Management Accreditation Standards and the quality maintenance and improvement of education and research in the aforementioned program are promising and excellent.” Accreditation commences April 1, 2020 for a five-year period.
2. The Peer Review Team
| Leader | Dr. Zabeda BT. Abdul Hamid, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia |
|---|---|
| Member | Prof. Dr. Jann Hidajat Tjakraatmadja, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia |
| Member | Prof. Dr. Asli M. Colpan, Kyoto University, Japan |
| Member | Prof. Dr. Hua Xu, University of Tsukuba, Japan |
| Member | Dr. Irina Petrovskaya, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia |
3. The Peer Review Schedule
| Peer Review Process | Date | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Submission of “Quality Improvement Strategy” | Jun. 30, 2018 | – |
| Ratification of “Quality Improvement Strategy” | Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, 2018 | PRC |
| Submission of “Self-Check/Self-Evaluation Report” | Jun. 30, 2019 | – |
| Implementation of the Peer Review Visit | Oct. 3-4, 2019 | PRT |
| Ratification of “PRT Review Report” | Nov. 18-19, 2019 | PRC |
| Informal Announcement of the PRT Review Report | Oct. 28, 2019 | – |
| Ratification of the PRT Review Report | Mar. 11, 2020 | PRC |
| Recommendation of the ABEST21 Accreditation | Mar. 12, 2020 | AC |
| Ratification of the ABEST21 Accreditation | Mar. 12, 2020 | Board Meetings |
4. Comprehensive Review
The School has shown improvements in its educational programs as well as created ambitious, yet also attractive and achievable, targets for its future development. Based on the interviews with the President, the Dean, administrative members, faculty, students, alumni and staff members, we believe that WBS has achieved great successes in various aspects of professional management education.
It would be good if the School can provide more details and documentations for a number of its statements made in the report. As mentioned by one team member, there are some cases when self-check/self-evaluation is not supported by clear explanations and documents, for example Criteria 1-2, 3-1, 4-3, 5-1, 6-3, 9-1, 12-1, 13-2, 17-1, 18-1. Although we know that writing the SCR report and preparing supporting documents need a lot of administrative resources and efforts, it will be helpful for WBS to keep a high quality in management education. In addition, another member has mentioned that the Self-Check for most Standards is described in very general terms, and does not provide sufficient information on the School’s situation and improvement initiatives. From the site visit, we can see that the School does have all the necessary initiatives and evidences, it was just not articulated enough in the Self Report. Providing the details for its plans and statements made in the report would add further value to the achievements and preparations of the School in providing quality management education.
Overall, we believe that the School has fulfilled the requirements for ABEST21 for accreditation based on the educational systems, the facilities provided to both staff and students, the various committees that oversee the numerous activities and monitoring of the curriculum structure, the establishment of networks via the International Advisory Board as well as linkages with international universities and industries, and also support that the School gives to the staff and students as well as the support received by the School from Waseda University and industries.
5. Good Practice in the Program Management Education
(1) Title of Good Practice in Management Education
“Practical Knowledge with Moral Development”
(2) Reason for selecting the title stated above
The reason for selecting this title is because the School has strong links with the industries via their Zemi groups as well as regular visits by their Zemi alumni and site visits to various organizations. Moral development is implied in the mission statement of the School in that it aims to produce students with global and moral values. This objective is driven by the President of Waseda University who focuses on developing graduates that are concerned about local and global issues and able to find solutions for these issues. Overall, this reflects the efforts of the School to create graduates of value.
6. Matters to be noted
The School should continue with its plans to increase the diversity among its teaching faculty as well as to provide part-time students with the opportunity to meet with their full-time peers for better interaction and internal networking. More information on mental health and counselling support should be shared with students for their overall well-being.
The School needs to provide sufficient information and supporting documents in the Self-Check, and to align its improvement issues with initiatives and corresponding action plans.
Lastly, and most importantly, we hope that the School will get the approval to increase the number of their teaching and administrative staff so that the current workload pressure is shared among more members in order to be able to maintain the high quality of the School in its quest for future development and growth.