Tokyo University of Foreign Studies


Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, often referred to as TUFS, is a specialist research university in Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan.
TUFS is primarily devoted to foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies. It also features an Asia-African institution.

History

The University is the oldest academic institution devoted to international studies in Japan. It began as Institute for Research of Foreign Documents, a Tokugawa shougunate's translation bureau set up in 1857.
It was subsequently established as an independent educational and research institution with the name Tokyo School of Foreign Languages in 1899.
In 1999, the University celebrated both the 126th anniversary of its original establishment and the 100th anniversary of its independence. The campus was moved to its present location, where students can study in a modern, hi-tech environment.

Departments

There are 26 departments of language, i.e. the languages students can major at TUFS. Some languages are rarely taught in Japan or elsewhere the world.
The primary TUFS campus in Fuchu is situated in Asahi-cho near Tama Station of the Seibu Tamagawa Line. Classes are mainly held in the Research and Lecture building and, for international students, the Japanese Language Center. The campus also features a library, gymnasium, sports field, cafeteria, and small shop, with another convenience store located adjacent to the North Arrival Court.
On-site accommodation is available to international students and local students, in the form of the three International Residence Halls located at the ‘rear’ of the campus by the sports field. Two of the buildings provide studio apartment-sized single rooms for incoming students, as well as a limited number of ‘family’-sized apartments. Arranged in a wedge-shaped configuration, two sides of the wedge are lined with rooms, with an uncovered atrium in the centre. Completed first, amenities such as a communal kitchen and music room are located in Building 1. Building 2, completed later and featured to the right, moves the showers out of the individual rooms and to a communal shower and laundry area located on each floor. The newest Building 3 is located next to Building 2 and offers single rooms to international and local students.
SWA Group, a prominent landscape architecture firm, designed a gathering space for the campus, repurposing a former military base to create a multifunctional space suitable for social gatherings as well as studying. The space honors the Japanese belief that trees represent souls and SWA carefully transplanted or incorporated all of the trees from the existing forest. Beyond being featured in Roger Yee's Educational Environments and Walter Roger's textbook Professional Practice of Landscape Architecture: A Complete Guide to Starting and Running Your Own Firm, the plaza won a National ASLA Design Merit Award in 2003.

School Festival (Gaigosai)

The School Festival of TUFS, Gaigosai, which usually takes place in the end of November, is known for its originality. Freshmen provide food of the countries they major in and Sophomore plays drama in the language they major. The plays are called gogeki. They sometimes use drama texts written in the language, but they often translate works in another language by themselves. Gogeki was given some grant by Japanese government.

List of Exchange Universities

TUFS has partner universities in 35 countries.

Alumni

TUFS is a specialized institution only in foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies, thus it is not as well known as other big universities such as University of Tokyo and Kyoto University. However, its prestigious position in Japan can be seen in the several rankings below.

General rankings

The university has been ranked 34th, 23rd and 20th out of 181 major universities during 2008–2010 in the ranking called "Truly strong universities" by Toyo Keizai.
According to the survey conducted by Nikkei HR in 2013, the TUFS won the first place in "working skills" ranking among Japanese universities. It shows that students grow their "working skills" through their studies at the university and they will learn faster and be operational once they have started their career.

Research performance

reported that TUFS has the 5th highest research standard in Japan in terms of research fundings per researcher in :ja:グローバルCOEプログラム|COE Program. In the same article, it's also ranked 3rd in terms of the quality of education by :ja:特色ある大学教育支援プログラム|GP funds per student.

Alumni rankings

According to the :ja:エコノミスト |Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings, graduates from TUFS have the 16th best employment rate in 400 major companies.
École des Mines de Paris ranks TUFS University as 92nd in the world in 2011 in terms of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies, although TUFS is a smaller university compared to other Japanese universities in the ranking.

Popularity and selectivity

TUFS is one of the most selective universities in Japan. Its entrance difficulty is usually considered one of the top among 180 national and public universities.