Accreditation Standards for Junior College
Structure of the Standards for junior college
The Standards for junior college consist of four parts (Ⅰ～Ⅳ).
The junior college recognizes its role and responsibilities through the assessment of educational effectiveness as an institution (Standard Ⅰ). It reviews the performance of educational programs and support services provided for the accomplishment of its mission (Standard Ⅱ). It identifies resources to sustain and improve education and research activities and management organizations (Standard Ⅲ). It demonstrates governance structures, processes, and practices throughout the institution. The junior college assures internal quality through systematic self-study of the whole institution.
Themes (A～C) as subordinate categories are set up under each standard and their themes are divided into points (1～5). The points indicate the objectives under the PDCA cycles for improvement. On the basis of the Standards, the junior college identifies its strengths and issues to be solved and the future direction determined through the process of institution-wide self-study.
With the aim of developing the characteristics of colleges, the Optional Standard is set aside from the Standards. The Optional Standards are composed of three elements, liberal education, career education and institution contribution to local communities, to make the individuality of each college clear. The evaluation based on the Optional Standards is conducted based on application from colleges, focusing on the achievement of the college’s activities.
| Mission and Educational efectiveness |
|---|
| A. Mission |
| Ⅰ-A-1 The institutional mission is established. (Or: The junior college establishes the founding purpose and mission.) |
| B. Effectiveness of Education |
| Ⅰ-B-1 The educational purpose is established. (Or: The junior college demonstrates the educational purpose.) |
| Ⅰ-B-2 The junior college clearly defines student learning outcomes. |
| Ⅰ-B-3 The junior college assures the quality of education. |
| C. Self-study |
| Ⅰ-C-1 The junior college establishes an implementation system of self-study and strives for improvement. |
| Curriculum and Student support services |
| A. Curriculum |
| Ⅰ-A-1 The junior college demonstrates degree awarding policies / diploma policies. |
| Ⅰ-A-2 The junior college demonstrates curriculum policies. |
| Ⅰ-A-3 The junior college demonstrates admission policies. |
| Ⅱ-A-4 The junior college establishes procedures to assess student learning outcomes. |
| B. Student support services |
| Ⅱ-B-1 The junior college effectively uses educational resources to support student learning and achievement. |
| Ⅱ-B-2 The junior college systematically provides learning support services to achieve student learning outcomes. |
| Ⅱ-B-3 The junior college systematically provides student support services for student learning and achievement. |
| Ⅱ-B-4 The junior college supports students in development of their career paths. |
| Ⅱ-B-5 The junior college provides its applicants for admission with clear and accurate information about the admission policies. |
| Educational resources and Financial resources |
| A. Human resources |
| Ⅲ-A-1 The junior college has established faculty organizations based on the curriculum policy. |
| Ⅲ-A-2 Faculty carry out education and research activities based on the curriculum policy. |
| Ⅲ-A-3 The junior college has established effective organization of administrative staff to enhance student learning and achievement. |
| Ⅲ-A-4 Human resources are appropriately managed. |
| B. Physical resources |
| Ⅲ-B-1 The junior college develops and utilizes school land and buildings, facilities, equipment, and other assets based on the curriculum policy. |
| Ⅲ-B-2 The junior college suitably maintains and manages facilities and equipment. |
| C. Other educational resources including technology resources |
| Ⅲ-C-1 The junior college develops and maintains technology resources based on the curriculum policy and utilizes them for student learning and achievement. |
| D. Financial resources |
| Ⅲ-D-1 The junior college establishes control mechanisms for financial resources and manages them appropriately. |
| Ⅲ-D-2 The junior college analyzes its financial conditions based on quantitative criteria for management judgment, and makes financial plans and manages the resources to assure financial stability. |
| Leadership and Governance |
| A. Chairperson’s leadership |
| The administrative organization for the school corporation, including the board of trustees, is established. |
| B. President’s leadership |
| The academic organization of junior college, including the faculty council, is established for student learning and achievement. |
| C. Governance |
| The auditors perform their duties appropriately based on the articles of endowment. |
| The board of councilors is established and meetings are held based on the articles of endowment and managed appropriately as an advisory body to the board members including the chairperson. |
| The system of governance is effectively functioning. (Or: The junior college has a system of effective governance.) |
Optional Standards
| Optional Standards_ Liberal education |
| The junior college defines clear goals for its liberal education. |
| The liberal education program is organized appropriately and a system for conducting the programs is established. (Or: The junior college appropriately organizes the liberal education program and establishes an implementation system.) |
| Teaching methods and a system for conducting liberal education are established. (Or: The junior college establishes teaching methods and a system for conducting liberal education.) |
| The junior college measures and assesses the effectiveness of liberal education, and works on improvement. |
| Optional Standards_ Career education |
| The junior college clearly defines the roles and functions of its career education. |
| The junior college endeavors to link career education with the upper secondary education. |
| The career education program is organized appropriately and a system for conducting the program is established. (Or: The junior college appropriately organizes the career education program and establishes an implementation system.) |
| The junior college opens programs to the public for “recurrent” (continuing) education. |
| The junior college makes efforts to improve the quality of its career education teaching staff as part of ongoing efforts to enhance the effectiveness of career education programs. |
| The junior college measures and assesses the effectiveness of career education, and works on improvement. |
| Optional Standards_ institution Contribution to local communities |
| Taking into account the needs of the local community, the junior college organizes extension courses and provides opportunities for lifelong education. |
| The junior college promotes cooperation with local government, off-campus educational and research institutions, corporations and other organizations. |
| The junior college contributes to local communities by means of voluntary activities of its faculty, staff and students. |