Kwansei Gakuin is one of the most prestigious private schools in Japan. With our history dating back to 1889, we aim to transform education in Japan for the future
Founded in Kobe by the American missionary Reverend Walter Russell Lambuth, M.D., Kwansei Gakuin is now a comprehensive and integrated institution spread across eight campuses aiming to reform education in Japan.
Our Mission at Kwansei Gakuin
As a learning community based on the principles of Christianity, we aim to inspire our members to seek their life missions, and cultivate them to be creative and capable world citizens who embody our motto, “Mastery for Service,” by transforming society with compassion and integrity.
To quote Dr. C.J.L. Bates, 1915: “We aim to be strong, to be masters – masters of knowledge, masters of opportunity, masters of ourselves, our desires, our ambitions . . . . but having become masters, we desire not to inflate, and enrich ourselves for our own sake, but to render some useful service to humanity in order that the world may be better for our having lived in it.”
“Shining freedom, Mastery for Service”
Kwansei Gakuin’s motto of “Mastery for Service,” coined by Dr. C.J.L. Bates, the fourth Chancellor of Kwansei Gakuin and the first President of Kwansei Gakuin University, reflects the ideal for all our members to master their abundant God-given gifts to serve their neighbors, society and the world.
A “master” usually means someone who directs or commands others, but at our school, it means a person who, in terms of humanity, learning, and daily life.
From that base, “service” is understood in the Christian context as “service to God,” the starting point for a life dedicated to serving neighbors, society, and others – a way of life that is devoted to creating a better world by utilizing one’s inalienable gifts; that is the ideal that we members of Kwansei Gakuin continue to seek, as we sing in the school song, “Shining freedom, Mastery for Service.”
Kwansei Gakuin University: discover over 80 different disciplines
Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU)—colloquially known as Kangaku—is a private nondenominational Christian university in the Kansai region of Japan.
As one of Kansai’s leading private universities, KGU offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees to around 25,000 students in over 80 different disciplines across 14 undergraduate schools and 14 graduate schools. Most schools are located on the Nishinomiya Uegahara Campus.
The School of Policy Studies and the School of Science and Technology are located on the Kobe Sanda Campus, while the Nishinomiya Seiwa Campus is home to the School of Education.
School of Education: Training the next generation of Japanese teachers
Education in Japan is said to be entering an era of great transformation with the advent of new technology and increased globalization, making it necessary for students to acquire new skills and competencies.
Amid calls for “revitalization” and “reform” in line with the changes in the times, we aim to understand, how should we raise children? On one hand, people and goods are now able to freely traverse across national borders, and it is easier than ever to connect with people all over the world in real time.
On the other hand, there are those who point out that as poverty has increased, there has been a growing disparity in education.
Against the backdrop of such a social climate, the School of Education has continued to teach future educators not to brood about issues by themselves, but to acquire many different viewpoints through discussions with others and to develop healthy critical thinking skills.
Graduate School: Addressing problems surrounding children
This program aims to solve, through instruction and research, the issues that arise in the formation of a person’s character throughout the course of his/her life by exploring the fundamental nature of education, humanity, and co-existence as they relate to an understanding of child psychology.
Our exploration of pedagogy is comprised of Research on Infant and Early Childhood Education and Research in Inclusive and Collaborative Education.
The first semester of each field consists of the Course in Research Training, which aims to bolster students’ research skills, and the Course in Advanced Education, which aims to cultivate the practical skills required of educators and other professionals.
The second semester consists of guidance and support for the completion of the doctoral dissertation and the mastery of the skills required to lead a career as a prominent academic.
Undergraduate School: reforming education in Japan
In our undergraduate school, we prepare high-quality educators who exercise: “ability to put into practice”, “learning and teaching capability” and “resourcefulness”, while understanding children.
In recent years, the environment surrounding education in Japan has been in chaos and there are a host of problems involving children such as bullying, class disruption, children who refuse to go to school and declining academic standards.
Meanwhile, demands from society toward education have been increasing, causing problems that cannot be handled only by teachers working in the field.
The learning and teaching capability of society as a whole has to be regenerated, especially for education in Japan, while taking all the educational activities of society, including those conducted by schools, households and local communities, into consideration.
Kwansei Gakuin set up the School of Education in April 2009, aiming at preparing trusted and high-quality educators (teachers of elementary schools and kindergartens) and childminders, as well as supporters of various educational activities.