Membership Type: Full 

Email: dir-intl@niad.ac.jp

Year in which Organisation/Agency commenced operations: 2000 

Countries/regions/states of operation: Japan

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) 

Title: Dr.

First Name: Yasunao 

Surname: HATTORI 

Job Title: President

Phone: +81-42-307-1684

Email Id: dir-intl@niad.ac.jp

Nominated Contact Person (if different from CEO) 

First Name: Tomoko

Surname: TAKAOKA

Job Title: Director, International Affairs Division 

Email Id: dir-intl@niad.ac.jp

Organisation Details

National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education (NIAD-QE) Address: 1-29-1 Gakuen-nishimachi Kodaira-shi, Tokyo 187-8587

Japan

Website: https://www.niad.ac.jp/english/

Criteria Requirements for Full Member

1，Criterion: Nature of the operations of the agency:

Measure: The agency is responsible for reviews at institutional or programme level of post-secondary education institutions or post-secondary quality assurance agencies

Description:

NIAD-QE is an evaluation and accreditation organization certified by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. It conducts institutional Certified Evaluation and Accreditation (CEA) for universities and colleges of technology, as well as discipline-based CEA for law schools.

2，Criterion: Mission statement and objectives:

Measure: The agency has formulated a mission statement and objectives which are consistent with the nature of the agency

Description:

NIAD-QE is an incorporated administrative agency created by the Japanese Act on General Rules for Incorporated Administrative Agencies and the Act on the NIAD-QE.

The mission statement and objectives of NIAD-QE are formulated in Article 3 of the Act on the NIAD-QE and in the NIAD-QE Charter.

The NIAD-QE Charter: https://www.niad.ac.jp/english/en-about/charter.html

3，Criterion: Agency staff, Numbers, Profile, Roles：

Measure: The profile of the staff is consistent with the Mission Statement:

Description:

The total number of staff members is 181 as of April 2025.

Staff members engaged in CEA activities are appropriately allocated according to the number of higher education institutions evaluated.

4，Criterion: Profile of reviewers:

Measure: The profile of the reviewers is consistent with the Mission Statement： 

Description:

The reviewers consist of academics from national, public, and private universities and industry stakeholders. NIAD-QE invites nominations for review members from a wide range of universities, academic societies, and other relevant organizations.

5，Criterion: Independence:

Measure: The judgements and recommendations of the agency’s reports cannot be changed by third parties

Description:

The evaluation results are finalized by the Committee for CEA and published on the NIAD-QE website. The evaluation results and the contents of the evaluation reports cannot be changed by third parties.

6，Criterion: Resources:

Measure: The agency has sufficient resources to run its operations in accordance with its mission statement and objectives：

Description:

NIAD-QE has sufficient resources. It receives a management expense grant from the government as well as evaluation fees from universities it evaluates.

7，Criterion: External quality assurance criteria and processes:

Measure: The description of the processes and criteria applied should be transparent and publicly available and normally include self evaluation, site visit, public report and follow-up measure.

Description:

NIAD-QE specifies the evaluation criteria and procedures in documents such as “the General Principles of Institutional CEA” and “the Evaluation Implementation Manual” and publishes them on the NIAD-QE website. The evaluation process includes self-assessment, site visit, publishing reports and follow-up measures.

Key documents, including “General Principles of Institutional CEA,” are available on the NIAD-QE website: https://www.niad.ac.jp/english/unive/cea/key.html

8，Criterion: Quality assurance:

The organization has quality assurance measures in place and is subject to occasional review 

Description:

-A Self-Assessment and Evaluation Committee has been established to conduct reviews and evaluations of NIAD-QE’s operational management and activities. In accordance with the Japanese Act on General Rules for Incorporated Administrative Agencies, NIAD-QE undergoes an evaluation by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology each fiscal year regarding its operational performance during the Medium-Term Objectives period.

-After conducting CEA, NIAD-QE collects feedback from evaluated universities and evaluators through questionnaires, covering items such as the operation of the evaluation process, workload, and schedule. The feedback collected is then used to improve evaluation methods and related procedures in subsequent evaluation cycles.