To date, the Center for the Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education has contributed to Kyoto University’s initiatives of educational reform. It also attempted to promote and establish faculty development (FD), through provision of support for FD activities at university and divisional levels as well as those conducted by the Faculty Development Committee. In the 2016 academic year, it was decided to re-launch the center as a university-wide organization, capable of strengthening the support and advancement for the enhancement and reform of education at Kyoto University across a broader spectrum of activities. This decision was made as part of the third Medium-Term goals and plans phase for Kyoto University as a national university corporation. The center’s new missions are as follows:

Missions of the Center

• 01

  To pursue practice and development associated with educational systems, including higher education teaching and learning methods, curriculum, assessment and evaluation, educational institutions, as well as technology and innovation.

• 02

  To undertake surveys, planning, implementation, evaluation, advice, and assistance from an expert standpoint on initiatives directed to the reform and enhance education at Kyoto University.

• 03

  To furnish the findings from practice-oriented research for the purposes of enhancing educational quality at Kyoto University and contributing to the advancement of higher education in Japan and both domestically and internationally.

The Center is currently composed of two Divisions — Studies in Higher Education and Educational Media Research and Development — and the Educational Assessment Office. It is aiming to develop more multi-faceted and innovative approaches to educational reform and enhancement through education support initiatives. The university functional strengthening project titled “Consolidation of the Support Base for Evidence-Based Educational Reform and Internationalization of Education Using ICT” (Information and Communication Technology) (2015-2019), and joint research projects with industry partners are a few examples of these initiatives.

Division for Studies in Higher Education
This Division comprises three fields of research related to university education: Teaching and Learning Methods, Curriculum, and Assessment and Evaluation. Its principal aims are to provide support for educational quality assurance and enhancement through activities such as reform of educational systems and enhancement of curricula and teaching, providing support for university evaluation activities, and planning and implementation of various FD activities designed for all faculty members of the university.

Division for Educational Media Research and Development
This Division is responsible for planning, research, development, and evaluation of educational uses of ICT (information and communications technology). It works to support university-wide deployment of educational ICT in collaboration with bodies including the Institute for Information Management and Communication and Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies. It comprehensively engages in the support and evaluation of education in the liberal arts and sciences courses, undergraduate majors, and graduate schools, as well as FD and other activities utilizing ICT.

Office for Educational Assessment
The aim of this Office is to use assessments to collect and analyze a range of educational and student data sets, furnish information for the purposes of enhancing curricula, educational programs, and teaching, as well as supporting decision-making. In collaboration with related divisions, it is also exploring ways to render learning outcomes more visible, with a view to gathering evidential data for university evaluation and applying it to learning and student support activities.

The predecessor of the center, the Research Center for Higher Education, was established in June 1994 as a joint-use facility within Kyoto University. The Research Center was the first organization in Japan that was devoted to practice-oriented research and development of university education. It pursued research and development activities across the three domains of university teaching methods, university curricula, and university education evaluation systems. In April 2003, the Research Center for Higher Education became “the Division for Studies in Higher Education”, and together with the Divisions of Liberal Arts Curriculum Development and Information and Media Study Design formed the present-day “Center for the Promotion of Excellence in Higher Education”. Upon the establishment of the Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences in April 2013, an organization to plan and implement liberal arts and sciences courses, the Division of Liberal Arts Curriculum Development completed its mission and was closed at the end of March 2014. Furthermore, the Division of Information and Media Study Design was re-named to “the Division for Educational Media Research and Development” and began operating with a new activity profile in April 2015. From 2016 academic year and as part of a university-wide re-organization including the launch of the Faculty Consorts and Platforms system, the Center assumed university-wide functions and the Educational Assessment Office was established.