Dokkyo University


Dokkyo University 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%.

History

The name "Dokkyo" is the Japanese-style dual kanji-based abbreviation of Verein für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society. 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 The first chancellor was Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa.
It developed into Schule des Vereins für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society School 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 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 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.
YearEvent
1883Doitsu-gaku Kyokai founded
1884Specialized subject courses established
1948Dokkyo Junior and Senior High Schools launched under new school system
1964Dokkyo University founded in Soka City
Saitama Faculty of Foreign Languages and Faculty of Economics established
Amano Teiyu assumed the position of first President.
1966Department of Management Science added to Faculty of Economics
1967Faculty and Department of Law established
Department of French added to Faculty of Foreign Languages
1977Graduate School of Law, Postgraduate program established
1981Foreign Language Educational Research Center established
INformation Center established
1983100th Anniversary of Dokkyo Gakuen
198420th Anniversary of Dokkyo University / International Center
1986Graduate School of Foreign Languages
Postgraduate Program established
1989Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Law added
1990Master's Program at Graduate School of Foreign Language added
Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Foreign Language added
Postgradual Program at Graduate School of Economics established
1992Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Economics added
1994Doctoral Program at Graduate School of Foreign Language added
1999Department 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
2003120th Anniversary of Dokkyo Gakuen Graduate School of Foreign Languages
One-year Master's Program in English at the Graduate School of Economics established
One-year Master's Program in Economics and Management Science established
200440th Anniversary of Dokkyo University
Dokkyo Law School established
2005One-year Postgraduate Program in Japanese Teaching at the Graduate School of Foreign Languages added
2007Faculty 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
2008Department of Policy Studies established at the Faculty of Law
2009Department of Tourism and Transnational Studies added to Faculty of Foreign Languages
2013Department 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.
The Teiyu Amano Memorial Stadium, home of the university's baseball team, is located off-campus in Koshigaya.

Academics

Schools

Undergraduate

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.

Exchange agreements

The university maintains student and academic exchange programs with various national and international universities.
PartnerPartnership since
Autonomous University of Barcelona
Cardiff University1999
Catholic University of Daegu2003
Fudan University1999
Hochschule Bremen 2006
Inha University2006
Institut d'études politiques de Lyon2006
Konkuk University
Kyung Hee University
Oxford Brookes University
Philipps-Universität Marburg
University of Marburg
University of Alabama1992
University of Basel
Université de Bourgogne 1985
Université Catholique de l'Ouest1997
Universität Duisburg-Essen 1984
University of Essex1983
University of the Fraser Valley2009
Universidad de Guadalajara2012
University of Illinois1998
University of Malaga
University of the Sunshine Coast2004
University of Wollongong1996
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
University of Wisconsin–Madison2002
Universität Wien 2003
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität 2004
York University1998

CountryUniversityStudent exchange programAcademic exchange program
AustraliaSouthern Cross University✓✓
University of the Sunshine Coast✓✓
University of Wollongong✓✓
AustriaUniversität Wien✓✓
ChinaAnyang University✗✓
Beijing Normal University✓✓
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences✗✓
Dalian University of Technology✓✓
East China Normal University✓✓
Fudan University✗✓
CanadaUniversity of the Fraser Valley✓✓
York University✓✓
CzechMasaryk University✓✓
FranceEtudes Politiques de Lyon associé à l'Institut d'Asie Orientale✓✓
Université Catholique de l'Ouest✓✓
Université de Bourgogne✓✓
Université Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne✓✗
GermanyFreie Universität Berlin✓✓
Hochschule Bremen✓✓
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg✓✓
Philipps Universität Marburg✓✓
Stiftung Universität Hildesheim✓✓
Universität Duisburg-Essen✓✓
Universität Heidelberg✓✓
Universität Regensburg✓✓
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster✓✓
JamaicaThe University of the West Indies✓✓
KoreaCatholic University of Daegu✓✓
Inha University✓✓
Konkuk University✓✓
Kyung Hee University✓✓
Sungshin University✓✓
Yonsei University✓✓
MexicoUniversidad de Guadalajara✓✓
SpainUniversidad de Málaga✓✓
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona✓✓
SwitzerlandUniversität Basel✓✓
TaiwanSoochow University✓✓
TurkeyBoğaziçi University✓✓
United KingdomCardiff University✓✓
Newcastle University✓✓
The University of Manchester✓✓
University of Essex✓✓
University of Leicester✓✓
United States of AmericaCalifornia State University, Monterey Bay✓✓
San Francisco State University✓✗
The University of Alabama✓✓
University of California, Davis✓✗
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign✗✓
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point✓✓

Rankings

In 2018 Dokkyo University was ranked among the top 100 universities in Japan by Times Higher Education.

Student life

Athletics

Dokkyo offers a variety of athletic programs. The university's baseball team has been competing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area University Baseball League since 1967.

People

Alumni

Notable alumni from Dokkyo university include: