Abstract
The purpose of this report is to discuss the possibility of analogizing curriculum based on department names as a preliminary study to realize quality assurance in undergraduate education. In Japan, although the diversification of department names and the international acceptability of degrees have been considered problematic since the 1990s, there have been few attempts to determine how they are related to the actual curriculum. In this paper, we examine the relationship between “department name,” which is the basic unit for student recruitment and enrollment management, “degree name,” which corresponds to the name of the major field of study attached to the degree, and “middle classification” in the MEXTʼs departmental classification table, relying on a comprehensive data set for four-year bachelorʼs programs.
Through the analysis, it became clear that there are two ways to discuss the possibility of analogizing curriculum based on the department name. When focusing on cases in which the department name uniquely determines the degree name and the middle classification, it is sufficient to see if there is a “clear commonality” in the curriculum of departments in question. On the other hand, if the department name does not uniquely determine the degree name or the middle classification, we should look for “decisive differences”. Since we are interested in the significance and limitations of the role of department names in the context of quality assurance of undergraduate education, it is necessary to clarify the existence and causes of “decisive differences” in curriculum.
