Research centre for Tertiary Education and Qualifications, Kyushu University

The name of university: Faculty of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University

The name of the donated Fund Laboratory: Research Centre for Tertiary Education and Qualifications

Contributor: The Jikei Group of Colleges

Researching staffs and their titles:
Hidefumi Shida, associate professor
Shouta Shirasaka, assistant professor

The outline of educational/research fields of the donated Fund Laboratory We aim to clarify tertiary education with the necessary of understanding of its structures and functions accompanying today’s worldwide development of education beyond the secondary level. Specially, we have an associate professor and an assistant professor assigned to research quality assurance and innovation of tertiary education. At the present, our researching staffs aren’t in charge of giving lectures. However, a consultation with the Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies and school of education will be separately presented as needed.
Specific research fields are non-university higher education sector and international recognition of higher education, vocational education and their qualifications.
Firstly, in non-university higher education sector, we will conduct the comparative study of structures and functions of a non-university sector having various forms against a university sector. It includes (1) self-assessment of education based on the outcomes of graduates, (2) skills, academic abilities, and conditions of teaching staffs and the enhancement of their performance (3) the cycle from self-assessment to improvement in education. Also, we will do practical and developmental research together.
Secondly, in international recognition of higher education, vocational education and their qualifications, we will adopt logical and systemic approaches to locate academic oriented and vocational oriented programmes systematically and comprehensively in tertiary education and ensure their quality assurance and international recognition. Specially, we will do international comparative research about qualifications frameworks developing recently.

About the organisational form and the necessary of the donated Fund Laboratory
In Faculty of Human-Environment Studies, full-time teaching staffs research and teach ‘higher education ’ that is the basis of this donated fund laboratory in addition to educational sociological planning and sociology for educational organisation within the Department of Education, while in the entire university teaching staffs of some organisation including the faculty of Arts and Science and office of institutional research produced research results on ‘higher education’. Even in these current conditions, there isn’t prepared organisation to carry out systematic and comprehensive research of development of ‘tertiary education’ featuring theoretical and practical research of its structures and functions and vocational education of middle level professionals in targeted Growth Fields, one of important educational policies. Therefore, we decided to establish this donated fund laboratory with donations from The Jikei Group of Colleges with a wealth of educational and research experience in the growth fields innovating rapidly from the educational point of view. We are convinced that this donated fund laboratory serves as COE for this field in Kyushu University with professional supports by the Jikei Group of Colleges according to the medium/ long-term educational and research plan of Faculty of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu university.