Graduate School of CommerceWaseda University

Dean, Graduate School of Commerce Keiichi Hasegawa

Established in 1920, Waseda University’s Graduate School of Commerce was formed from the Waseda University School of Commerce, the oldest school of commerce among Japanese private universities. Then in 1951, about 60 years ago, it began operation under its current system as a graduate school.

Tameyuki Amano, the first director of the Waseda School of Commerce (old system) established in 1904, wished to “cultivate businessman with an understanding of economics who could work internationally”. The Graduate School of Commerce has inherited precisely that same thinking from its founder and is committed to the two principal goals of training researchers and training high-level professionals. Having introduced European and American-style graduate school education at a time when most of the universities and departments in Japan still had a poor appreciation for graduate school education, the Graduate School of Commerce has come to lead Japanese graduate schools in terms of its rich curriculum, superior faculty, excellent facilities, full student services, and openness to overseas students. During this half-century and more, we have trained many excellent people who have filled leadership roles and been key participants in a wide variety of fields.

The Graduate School of Commerce has a Master’s course and a Doctoral course and offers training and research in the field of general commerce. It falls under the category of a two-stage graduate program connected directly to the School of Commerce, but rather than simply adhering to tradition and history, we are constantly striving to improve and renovate. For example, in the 2014 academic year, we altered our Master’s curriculum and established a “core curriculum” for each specialization as well as adding a requirement in “basic statistics”. For the entrance test as well, we are always reviewing our procedures such as the replacement of the former English language test with a language proficiency exam (TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS), as well as focusing the test scope of the specialized exam.

Also, we are planning to upgrade the doctorate curriculum, accelerate the acquisition of the doctorate degree, strengthen the research leadership system, and improve the researcher cultivation program by simplifying and clarifying the rules for submitting the doctoral thesis.

In this way, we hope to preserve and continue with Waseda University’s Graduate School of Commerce’s shining tradition and its achievements in research and education and, with our fully realized graduate school environment, to continue to cultivate individuals who can compete on a global level and acquire rare and irreplaceable knowhow that is difficult to reproduce elsewhere.