Message from the Director of the Center for Quality Assurance in Higher Learning

The Center for Quality Assurance in Higher Learning of Keio University was established in April 2022 as a university-wide organization to promote its evaluation and improvement activities, aiming for the quality assurance and enhancement of education and learning at this university. At the same time, the Office for Quality Assurance in Higher Learning was established as the department in charge of the Center's administrative affairs.

The mission of this Center is to comprehensively support and promote the management of educational and learning activities, centered on the degree programs in each undergraduate faculty and graduate school, from a university-wide perspective, while gathering expertise on university and higher education from both within and outside the university. In particular, it is positioned as a cornerstone of the quality assurance system that links inspection and evaluation activities to the improvement and planning of educational affairs.

We will share information about the Center's specific activities through this site. As of October 2022, five working teams have been launched: "Educational Planning," "Assessment of Education and Learning Outcomes," "FD Promotion," "Educational IR," and "Graduate School Common Programs." Members selected from undergraduate faculties and graduate schools participate in each team, and while receiving support from the staff of the Office for Quality Assurance in Higher Learning, they are actively engaged in discussions toward the formulation and implementation of various educational initiatives.

I would like to emphasize two features of our organization. The first is our close relationship with the undergraduate faculties and graduate schools. The Center's steering committee is composed of the Director and Deputy Directors of the Center, and all deans of undergraduate faculties and chairs of graduate school committees. The Center's activities are carried out by faculty members selected from each undergraduate faculty and graduate school, who serve as its members. The Center functions not as an organization independent (or isolated) from the faculties and graduate schools, but as one that works in close collaboration with the academic departments and connects them across the university.

The other is the collaborative system between faculty and administrative staff. The Center for Quality Assurance in Higher Learning, as a faculty organization, and the Office for Quality Assurance in Higher Learning, as an administrative staff organization, work together like two wheels of a cart to support the university's educational management. While the Office handles the administrative affairs of the Center, its duties are not limited to that. By sharing the unique knowledge and experience of the administrative staff in charge of academic affairs management with the faculty members of the Center for Quality Assurance in Higher Learning, we will work on the inspection, development, and improvement of education and learning from a "learner-centered" perspective, without being limited to a "faculty perspective."

Leveraging these features as our strengths, we are determined to further enhance and strengthen the education and learning at Keio University. We ask for your support and cooperation from both within and outside the university.