Kanazawa University School of International Studies website.Kanazawa University School of International Studies website.

Greetings from the Dean

  • Welcome to the Kanazawa University School of
    International Studies website.

    I would like to begin my greetings by briefly explaining the concepts behind, as well as the current status of the School of International Studies, as well as our stance toward the “present” situation in Japan (writing in April 2022).

    Our School of International Studies was established fourteen years ago in 2008. It was a time when the number of Japanese students studying abroad was declining, and there was a worry that Japanese people were too strongly inward-looking vis-à-vis the outside world. This was also a concern in terms of the development of Japan as an influential country within the international community. As such, there were numerous discussions about the need to promote the internationalization of Japanese society to overcome this situation. The School of International Studies was likewise established, prior to other universities doing so, in order to nurture and guide articulate and skilled graduates whom we hoped would play a leading role in promoting the internationalization of Japan. The wisdom of this decision was later made evident when the Japanese government promoted internationalization as a major pillar of the Japanese government’s education policy. These policies include the promotion of Japanese students studying abroad, the acceptance of an increased number of foreign students to universities in Japan, and the promotion of English education as the lingua franca of the globalized world. Following this, academic faculties and departments with “international” in their name were established one after another at universities in Japan. In this context, I believe that Kanazawa University, which has been promoting the internationalization of education from a relatively early stage, has achieved solid and impressive results.

Further info

Our programs are structured to enable more flexible, diverse learning while maintaining the existing educational policies and strengths of the School of International Studies.