About Waseda University
Founded in 1882 by Shigenobu Okuma, once prime minister and regarded as the father of Japanese national modernization, Waseda University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It comprises thirteen undergraduate, seventeen graduate, and five professional graduate schools covering most areas of social and natural sciences, liberal arts, and engineering, with over 50,000 students and 5,000 faculty members on nine campuses, five of which are located in central Tokyo. About 500,000 Waseda graduates are actively taking leading roles in various fields around the world.
Waseda was one of the first Japanese universities to open its door to students from overseas.
Currently, there are 2,435 foreign students enrolled at Waseda. The number of foreign students at Waseda is the highest among Japanese universities. The university has some undergraduate and graduate programs conducted entirely in English. Waseda continues to develop an ideal research and educational environment to support its foreign teachers and students, having agreements with 539 organizations in 75 countries to date, concerning student and faculty exchange programs.
Furthermore, the university is working on new “double degree” programs with universities including Peking University and Fudan University, Taiwan University, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Columbia University as well as network-type co-operative colloquiums via the Internet, to support the student and faculty members involved in the exchange programs.
Waseda University is actively promoting joint research enterprises and industry-government- academia collaboration with key strategic university-level institutions among our most intimate global partners, having established ten overseas outposts in seven countries. These offices are intended to support Waseda students abroad and maintain effective networking with Waseda alumni worldwide, with bases in China, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, France, Germany and the USA.
With a collection of more than 5.15 million books, Waseda University maintains high quality libraries. Large volumes of data on Japanese books created by Waseda University are utilized worldwide for cataloguing through the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). Waseda is the only Japanese university providing data through the OCLC.
Waseda is famous for its distinguished graduates dispersed not only across business and political circles in Japan but also worldwide. So far, six prime ministers of the Japanese government have been Waseda alumni. Waseda graduates are very active and influential in such fields as politics, law, journalism and mass communication, art, and sports. Among them are excellent entrepreneurs contributing to scientific breakthroughs and creating globally prestigious firms, such as Mr. Masaru Ibuka, co-founder of Sony Corporation as well as current and former presidents and CEOs of top multinational companies.
For more information about Waseda University, please refer to www.waseda.jp
