NIAD-QE conducts studies and research on the approach to university management, as well as research to serve as the basis of organizational designs related to staff members with expertise skills necessary for university reform (i.e., highly skilled personnel), including financial resources, status and capacity building. This includes: an analysis of the discussion and development related to government policies on evaluation and resource allocation, framework and systems necessary for the accreditation of highly skilled personnel, discussion of training systems, and collection and analysis of information on development in foreign countries, as well as studies and research aimed at building a network of highly skilled personnel, IR and evaluators.

NIAD-QE conducts analysis of the results of past evaluations of education and research activities of universities and colleges to verify, in an empirical way, the effective approach and efficient evaluation. NIAD-QE also studies the approaches to evaluation systems for assuring, maintaining and improving the quality of Japanese universities and colleges that will be necessary in the future to respond to the demands arising from the development in the government policies of Japan and foreign countries. Specifically, NIAD-QE conducts analysis for the following: development of area-specific criteria and information items necessary for the evaluation of education and research levels, and planning a surveyfor the evaluation to be answered by evaluators and universities. NIAD-QE also studies important issues related to the evaluation, including internal quality assurance, study assistance, grade assessment and study outcomes.

NIAD-QE conducts research on foreign quality assurance systems in order to gain improve Japanese quality assurance systems and facilitate collaboration for joint international educational programs which are expected to develop in the future. In addition, based on insights from the research, NIAD-QE develops educational materials for the practitioners who engage in quality assurance at Japanese universities. NIAD-QE also uses these educational materials to implement training sessions for university faculty and staff members to assist universities in their quality assurance efforts. In addition, it convenes seminars for university staff members in charge of international activities.

NIAD-QE conducts research on the use of information necessary for self-assessment by universities along with third-party evaluation by evaluation organizations, including the development of methods for collection, collation, analysis and publication of information for the evaluation of quality assurance in higher education and also benchmarks for education and research activities. In particular. NIAD-QE: develops technologies related to databases and websites to serve as the basis of utilization of universities’ information, utilizes the outcomes for its evaluation activities, and manages the Japanese College and University Portraits reflecting these outcomes.