Dokkyo University (獨協大学, Dokkyō Daigaku) is a private university in Sōka, Saitama, Japan, which is a liberal, co-educational institution noted for its language education programs and international exchanges. The university was founded in 1964, its roots can be traced back as early as 1881. Undergraduate admissions are selective, with an admission rate ranging from 30–40%.[1]
History
The name "Dokkyo" is the Japanese-style dual kanji-based abbreviation of Verein für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society (獨逸學協會, Doitsu-gaku Kyōkai). What was to become today's Dokkyo University was founded on 18 September 1881 by various people, among them scholars Nishi Amane and Katō Hiroyuki, diplomats Inoue Kaoru and Aoki Shūzō and statesmen Shinagawa Yajirō and Katsura Tarō as Verein für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society (獨逸學協會, Doitsu-gaku Kyōkai) The first chancellor was Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa.
It developed into Schule des Vereins für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society School (獨逸學協會學校, Doitsu-gaku Kyōkai Gakkō) in 1883, which opened its doors exclusively to boys in line with the custom at the time. They also founded a highly prestigious law school to study Japan's first constitution The Constitution of the Great Empire of Japan, modeled after the Prussian one with criminal codes also modeled after the German ones, but the elite law division was absorbed by the Imperial University of Tokyo Faculty of Law in 1895.
The school went through a minor negative campaign due to World War I, when Japan sided with the British Empire against the German Empire from August 1914 to November 1918, but the majority of the Japanese public was either pro-German or neutral despite Japan's position in the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. The 1920s saw its heyday when the school sent the highest number of boys into the nation's top Daiichi Kōtō Gakkō (第一高等学校, Daiichi Kōtō Gakkō) ("High School No.1") in Tokyo, popularly known as "Ichikō", which is today's Liberal Arts campus of the University of Tokyo. The collapse of the two great empires of Germany and Japan in 1945, however, rendered the elite school into a mere boys' high school of middle rank.
During the early 1960s Dokkyo School's graduate and former Education Minister Amano Teiyū (天野貞祐, Amano Teiyū) was invited to found the University with money from the school and local governments. They started their first lectures on a higher education level in April 1964.
Specialized subject courses (Law & Politics) established
1948
Dokkyo Junior and Senior High Schools launched under new school system
1964
Dokkyo University founded in Soka City
Saitama Faculty of Foreign Languages (Department of German & English) and Faculty of Economics (Department of Economics) established
Amano Teiyu assumed the position of first President.
1966
Department of Management Science added to Faculty of Economics
1967
Faculty and Department of Law established
Department of French added to Faculty of Foreign Languages
1977
Graduate School of Law, Postgraduate program established
1981
Foreign Language Educational Research Center established
INformation Center established
1983
100th Anniversary of Dokkyo Gakuen (Dokkyo Educational Foundation)
1984
20th Anniversary of Dokkyo University / International Center
1986
Graduate School of Foreign Languages
Postgraduate Program established (German & English)
1989
Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Law added
1990
Master's Program at Graduate School of Foreign Language added (German & English)
Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Foreign Language added (German & English)
Postgradual Program at Graduate School of Economics established
1992
Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Economics added
1994
Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Foreign Language added (French)
1999
Department of Languages and Culture added to Faculty of Foreign Languages
Department of International Legal Studies added to Faculty of Law
Completion of 35th Anniversary Centre
2003
120th Anniversary of Dokkyo Gakuen Graduate School of Foreign Languages
One-year Master's Program in English (Focus: English Teaching) at the Graduate School of Economics established
One-year Master's Program in Economics and Management Science (Focus: Information) established
2004
40th Anniversary of Dokkyo University
Dokkyo Law School (Graduate School of Law) established
2005
One-year Postgraduate Program in Japanese Teaching at the Graduate School of Foreign Languages added
2007
Faculty of International Liberal Arts established
Institute of Regional Research established
Institute of Human and Environmental Symbiosis Research established
Legal Service Centre for Children and Local Community established
2008
Department of Policy Studies established at the Faculty of Law
2009
Department of Tourism and Transnational Studies added to Faculty of Foreign Languages
2013
Department of Economics and Sustainability added to Faculty of Economics
Facilities
The university is located in Sōka, Saitama, around 30 minutes from the Tokyo Metropolitan area. The facilities are arranged on a campus-styled property and include the Central, East and West buildings, a Student Center, Library and Research Center, a University Sports Ground and various gardens and additional buildings.
The campus is situated next to the Denu river and can be accessed via the East, West, South or Ground Gate.[3][4]
The Teiyu Amano Memorial Stadium, home of the university's baseball team, is located off-campus in Koshigaya.[citation needed]
The university has an International Center, an overseas study program and various exchange agreements with universities worldwide. It also offers a Japanese Language and Culture Program for exchange students.[5]
Exchange agreements
The university maintains student and academic exchange programs with various national and international universities.[6]