National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education

The National Institution for Academic Degrees and Quality Enhancement of Higher Education, abbreviated NIAD-QE, is Independent Administrative Institution affiliated with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, whose objectives are:

To evaluate education and research activities of Japanese universities and their consortia and to publish the result of the evaluation.
To evaluate achievements of higher education-level learning outside mainstream universities and award academic degrees.

As of July 2007, the second objective consists of:

Accrediting the courses of some daigakkō and awarding academic degrees to the graduates
Awarding bachelor's degrees to the graduates of Japanese junior colleges and kōsen who did recognisable extra studies.

It is headquartered in Kodaira, Tokyo.

History

1991: The Study Centre for Academic Degree Awarding and Committee for Study for Creation of Academic Degree Awarding Institution was established in the Graduate University for Advanced Studies.
1992: The NIAD was established.
1994: The NIAD was expanded to NIAD-UE.
2002: The first publication of the results of evaluation.
2003: Relocated to the current campus in Kodaira.
2016: The NIAD-QE was established.