Announcements from the University

Ibaraki University (President: Hiroyuki Ota), a national university corporation, established a third-party investigation committee to investigate a serious bullying incident that occurred at the university's affiliated elementary school (hereinafter referred to as "Affiliated Elementary School") in fiscal year 2021. The committee held its first meeting on July 31, 2023. The investigation by the committee has now been completed, and the investigation report was received on March 26, 2026.

Regarding this case, there was a lack of awareness of various systems, such as the Act on Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying, at the affiliated elementary school and the Faculty of Education, a delay in reporting the serious incident to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and errors in the explanation of the reporting status to the parents of the children involved. Furthermore, it was discovered that there were errors in the response data related to the affiliated elementary school in the "Survey on Problem Behavior, School Absenteeism, and Other Student Guidance Issues for Fiscal Year 2021" submitted by the Faculty of Education of Ibaraki University to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and a request for correction has been made.

As the operator of the affiliated elementary school, our organization believes that these incidents stem from serious governance issues. Therefore, in April 2023, we decided to establish a third-party investigation committee to objectively understand the situation and take steps to prevent recurrence. The first meeting of the third-party investigation committee was held on July 31st of the same year. Since then, our organization has sincerely responded to the committee's investigation.

Furthermore, regarding governance in particular, we have been working on improvements that are conceivable from both the corporation and the Faculty of Education since the beginning of fiscal year 2023.

On March 26, 2026, President Hiroyuki Ota of this institution received the investigation report from the chairman of the third-party investigation committee, Takashi Sakata.

Our organization will promptly review the contents of the investigation report, consider measures to prevent recurrence, and implement necessary improvements. Furthermore, while giving due consideration to privacy and human rights, we plan to provide explanations to the bullied child and their guardians, as well as to the child and their guardians who committed the bullying, in accordance with the "Guidelines for Investigating Serious Bullying Incidents" (revised in August 2024).

Regarding the publication of the contents of the investigation report, we will consider making it public in principle, while taking into account the wishes of the bullied children and their guardians and giving due consideration to the protection of personal information.

The progress of our organization's response to this case

In addition to the above, the progress of governance improvement efforts at this corporation, the Faculty of Education at Ibaraki University, and its affiliated schools and kindergartens can be found on the Ibaraki University website.https://www.ibaraki.ac.jp/m/corporate/aes2023info/It is available on [website name].

Regarding the Third-Party Investigation Committee

In order to clarify the facts of the serious bullying incident that occurred at the Ibaraki University Faculty of Education Affiliated Elementary School in fiscal year 2021, and to examine the responses of the affiliated elementary school, the Faculty of Education, and Ibaraki University to this serious bullying incident, to identify issues, and to consider measures to prevent future recurrence, we have established a third-party investigation committee within our organization pursuant to Article 28, Paragraph 1 of the Act on Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying (Act No. 71 of 2013).
The committee stated,
　　①Facts concerning this serious bullying incident
　　②Response of the affiliated elementary school to this serious bullying incident
　　③Regarding this serious bullying incident, the affiliated elementary school, the Faculty of Education, and the corporation have taken action against the Act on Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying.
Status of compliance with laws and regulations
　　④Future measures to prevent recurrence
　　⑤Other matters concerning the investigation into this serious bullying incident.
An investigation and deliberation were conducted on this matter, and the first committee meeting was held on July 31, 2023.

[Committee]