Recently Japanese universities have been required to undertake a major task of developingthe student's generic skills. Active learning methods are to be systematically implementedfor this purpose, but only a few institutions have been successful as yet. This paper intendsto investigate the outstanding features that characterize high-flying practices, howeversmall in number, and summarize key ideas toward effective program development. Teninstitutions were selected on the basis of recent surveys on active learning practice, whichwere then visited by the present authors for an in-depth interview. Each of the ten qualityprograms are summarized in terms of program characteristics, pedagogy, operationalsystem, and support services. Common observations from these successful cases are asfollows: (a) existence of committed forces that lead dissemination of active learningmethods and facilitate collaboration between academic and administrative staff, (b)existence of well-designed support services that incorporate student assistance, and (c)thoughtful programming of verbal communication throughout a curriculum.