News and Topics

2020.05.21

In AY2018, Kwansei Gakuin University became the top university in Japan in terms of the number of students dispatched abroad, based on partnerships with overseas universities and other programs. According to the 2018 exchange student survey results announced by the Japan Student Services Association (JASSO) on April 22, KGU dispatched 1833 students to overseas partner institutions and other organizations in one year. When KGU’s Global Academic Port Initiative was selected for MEXT’s Top Global University Project in AY2014, the university worked on achieving the ultimate goal of becoming the number one university in Japan in terms of the number of students dispatched abroad. KGU has achieved that goal five years earlier than 2023, which will be the final year of the project.

Kwansei Gakuin University has emphasized international education since its founding in 1889 by American missionary W.R. Lambuth, with its mission to train creative and capable world citizens who embody the spirit of “Mastery for Service.” From that viewpoint of prioritizing qualitative enrichment, the university has focused its efforts on making its study abroad programs more substantial via partnerships, particularly with overseas universities and international institutions, through the Global Academic Port. Together with the expansion of study abroad programs offered by the long-established Center for International Exchange and Cooperation, the university developed study abroad programs that took advantage of the various traits of its undergraduate and graduate schools, and promoted them university-wide. As of April 2020, Kwansei Gakuin University has partnerships with 53 countries, 271 regions and four international institutions.

As the COVID-19 crisis grows more serious domestically and abroad, the university has temporarily suspended its overseas study abroad programs. At present, the university is cooperating fully with efforts to restore the situation to normalcy as soon as possible, and making preparations so that it can quickly offer even more robust programs as soon study abroad exchanges are able to resume.