Kansai University

"Kandai" redirects here. For the village in Iran, see Kandai, Iran.
Kansai University
関西大学
Latin: Universitas Kansaiensis
Motto 学の実化
(Academic Practicalization)
Type Private
Established Founded Nov. 4, 1886,
Chartered Jun. 5, 1922
Endowment US$1.3 billion
(JP¥144.8 billion)
President Teiichi Kawata, Shin Tae-Goo
Academic staff
 534 full-time
Undergraduates 29,733
Postgraduates 1,546
Location Suita, Osaka, Japan
34°46′13″N 135°30′29″E / 34.770375°N 135.508147°E / 34.770375; 135.508147Coordinates: 34°46′13″N 135°30′29″E / 34.770375°N 135.508147°E / 34.770375; 135.508147
Campus Suburban / Urban,
191 acres (0.8 km²)
Athletics 45 varsity teams
Nickname Kaisers
Mascot Ambassador Magma
(unofficial and historical)
Website www.kansai-u.ac.jp

Kansai University (関西大学 Kansai Daigaku), or Kandai (関大), is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university located in Suita, Osaka, Japan and in two other locations: Osaka City; and Takatsuki, Osaka.

History

Kansai University was founded as Kansai Law School in November 1886, in Osaka. Its founders were six judicial officers who were in the service of the then Osaka Court of Appeal.

Kansai University

In the early 1870s, the Ministry of Justice established its own law school. Western legal concepts, including that of human rights, were introduced into Japan by distinguished foreign scholars engaged by the Ministry. The founders of Kansai Law School had all studied at this law school, under the French jurist Boissonade de Fontarabie.[1] The idea of individual rights and legal processes independent of central governmental control were new to Japan. Long after the conclusion of their study with Dr. Boissonade, the founders continued to feel that these concepts were vital to the new Japan. They saw it as their duty to popularize jurisprudence to spread throughout the nation two notions: that of an independent judiciary and that of human rights.

From this sense of mission sprung the idea of founding a law school. They then sought and received the assistance and cooperation of Kojima Korekata,[2] their superior (and later Chief Justice of Japan's Supreme Court), and Doi Michio, president of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Thus Kansai Law School was the first law school in Osaka. The founders taught that the law belongs to all citizens and, that by means of the law, they can and should defend their own rights. This became the origin of the university's academic tradition of nurturing a love of justice and a concern for the protection of the freedom of the individual. Thanks to the support and trust it has won from the general public, the institution has since then steadily developed and diversified.

In 1905 the institution was renamed as 'Private Kansai University', then in 1920 as 'Kansai University' before finally in 1922 being granted the official status of a university. Also in 1922 its main campus was moved to its present more extensive site in Suita (a suburb of Osaka), thus paving the way for later growth. In consequence of the educational reforms carried out soon after the end of the Second World War, Kansai University was able to avail itself of the new system to expand its scope for tuition so as to comprise four faculties: those of Law, Letters, Economics and Commerce.

Its first graduate school was established in 1950. Its Faculty of Engineering was founded in 1958, followed in 1967 by the founding of its Faculty of Sociology. In 1994 in response to the requirements of modern technology and communication, the Informatics faculty was instituted on another campus, created just outside the dormitory-town of Takatsuki. Its Institute of Foreign Language Education and Research was inaugurated in 2000.

For many decades, the evening courses were taught on a separate campus, in the Tenroku area of Osaka. These originally constituted a night school for students, many of them working adults. In 1994 the evening course was moved to the Senriyama campus; in 2003, the university instituted an innovative 12-hour curriculum, integrating both day and evening courses.

Thus, at present, Kansai University offers seven faculties in its undergraduate day school and five faculties (Engineering and Informatics being the exceptions) in its undergraduate evening school; it also offers graduate studies in all seven faculties, plus the independent graduate school staffed by members of its Institute of Foreign Language Education and Research.

The university, with its attached senior and junior high schools and kindergarten, has a total student body of 27,000. In 2006, Kansai University celebrated the 120th anniversary of its foundation.[3]

Faculties and graduate schools

Notable alumni/ae/Students

Law / Politics / Government

Business

Entertainment

Sports

References

  1. ↑ Gustave Ernie Boissonade de Fontarabie (1825-1910) was, from 1873 to 1895, a legal adviser to the Ministry of Justice of the Meiji Government.
  2. ↑ Kojima (1837–1908) is best remembered for his efforts to maintain the independence of judicature the judiciary after the Otsu Incident in 1891.
  3. ↑ (Japanese) http://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/nenshi/index.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/English/fl.html
  5. ↑ http://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/English/institute.html

External links

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