3The National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education (NIAD-QE) was launched in 2016, when the National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation merged with the Center for National University Finance and Management. NIAD-QE carries out the work that had been done before the merger in such areas as awarding academic degrees, evaluating universities and colleges, providing loans and grants for facilities, conducting cooperative quality assurance, and gathering and disseminating information about higher education in Japan and overseas. In addition, since FY2023, we have been supporting efforts to improve the quality of higher education in Japan through a subsidy program for universities and colleges of technology that cultivate personnel who will drive growing fields.NIAD-QE supports diverse forms of learning at the higher education level as Japan’s only non-university body that awards academic degrees. Since our establishment as the National Institution for Academic Degrees, more than 100,000 people have been awarded a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree.In the realm of university evaluation, NIAD-QE conducts certified evaluation and accreditation of universities and colleges, and also evaluates the state of education and research at national university corporations and inter-university research institute corporations at the request of MEXT’s National University Corporation Evaluation Committee.In the realm of loans and grants for facilities, NIAD-QE supports efforts to enhance the education and research environment, and to improve finance and management by providing loans and grants for the development of facilities at national university corporations, etc.As well as operating the Japanese College and University Portraits portal, which gathers and disseminates information about the activities of universities and colleges, NIAD-QE holds workshops about quality assurance and financial affairs. Furthermore, NIAD-QE serves as Japan’s official National Information Center (NIC) under UNESCO’s conventions on the recognition of qualifications in higher education, namely the Tokyo Convention and the Global Convention.Since FY2023, NIAD-QE has been supporting the restructuring of faculties and other such initiatives at universities and colleges of technology aiming to cultivate highly skilled professionals who will drive growing fields such as digital and green business. Over a period of 10 years, we will invite ambitious universities and colleges of technology to submit their plans, and will provide the institutions selected with subsidies to support their initiatives. In the two years since FY2023, we have already begun providing support to more than 200 national, public and private universities and colleges of technology.We also conduct various studies and research concerning the aforementioned programs, and provide the results to society as a whole, with a particular focus on higher education institutions.Today, we are facing social transformation on a number of fronts, including rapid advances in generative AI and other forms of information technology, the march of globalization, environmental issues on a global scale, and population decline within Japan. As such, expectations for the development of highly skilled professionals by higher education and the role thereof are growing, and many universities are moving forward with reforms. Amid this situation, the role played by NIAD-QE in supporting the foundations of higher education institutions is becoming even more crucial. Every member of NIAD-QE is dedicated to supporting higher education institutions by increasing the transparency and fairness of our operations based on clear governance, in order to prove worthy of the trust placed in us by stakeholders and help further the development of Japanese higher education.We would therefore greatly appreciate your continued understanding and support.NIAD-QE PresidentHATTORI YasunaoGreetings from the President
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