NIAD-QE amasses a variety of information concerning higher education through playing roles in the university and college evaluation and the awarding of academic degrees. To further leverage this information and meet society’s needs for support for university reform and the awarding of academic degrees, NIAD-QE conducts information science research aimed at the development of appropriate information infrastructure and effective information analysis techniques.

1. Studies and Research on the Analysis of Information on Support for University and College Reform and the Awarding of Academic Degrees

NIAD-QE is developing effective methods and applications for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and visualizing information needed for evaluations that foster quality higher education and the widened opportunity for academic degrees, intending to improve the quality and efficiency of in-house activities. It also develops information analysis methods and tools to enhance the availability of the information on higher education it collects and thus provide it optimally to various stakeholders in society.

2. Studies and Research on the Information Infrastructure Relevant to Support for University and College Reform and the Awarding of Academic Degrees

Enhancing the usability of the higher education information gathered by NIAD-QE through its programs requires an information infrastructure in the form of an integrated system for the collection, management, and supply of information. Specifically, this system needs to be capable of gathering information from universities and colleges in a unified and efficient manner, organizing and storing that information in ways that enable it to be used for an array of purposes, and supplying the information in an optimal way according to the different purposes of its use. NIAD-QE conducts research into approaches to the databases that form the basis of such a system, focusing on its vision for the future of the flow of higher education information in society.

---