is one of the national universities of Japan, headquartered in Shonan Village (湘南国際村) in the town of Hayama in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. , as it is generally called in its abbreviated form, was established in 1988, with Dr. Saburo Nagakura as its president. SOKENDAI is the first national university in Japan having offered exclusively graduate programs. Graduate students are trained at affiliated research institutes distributed around Japan and the world. It has both five-year doctoral programs for students with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

and three-year programs for those with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Objective

SOKENDAI is a National Graduate University of Japan, conforming to the guidelines stipulated under the provisions of Japan's National University Corporation Act. The National Graduate Universities' objective is to anticipate the future, nurture specialized researchers with broader visions, and contribute to the public benefit.

Schools

SOKENDAI operates as a distributed research university that cooperates with research institutes throughout Japan. Administration and general courses are provided by SOKENDAI headquarters at the Hayama campus. Specialized courses and research activities are conducted at the host research institutes, including 16 research institutes working under four inter-university research institute corporations, the National Institute of Multimedia Education, and the

Institute of Space and Astronautical Science , or ISAS, is a Japanese national research organization of astrophysics using rockets, astronomical satellites and interplanetary probes which played a major role in Japan's space development. Established as part of the University of Tokyo ...

. There are six schools, each offering specialization research programs in collaboration with the research institutes. The six schools include:
Cultural and Social StudiesPhysical SciencesHigh-Energy Accelerator ScienceMultidisciplinary SciencesLife ScienceAdvanced Sciences

Rankings

The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI has been ranked highly amongst global universities by th
Center for World University Rankings (CWUR)
placed 598th in the world (top 2.2%) in 2017. It has also been ranked highly amongst Japanese research universities b
U.S. News & World Report
placed 16th in Japan in 2022 based on research strength indicators.

Location

SOKENDAI main campus is located at Shonan-Kokusai-Mura(Shonan Village), Hayama Town, Miura District,

, 240-0193 Japan. Each of its distributed schools campus is located at the host institutes: * Hayama (

) - Research Center for Integrative Evolutionary Science, Graduate University for Advanced Studies head office * Suita (

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

) - National Museum of Ethnology * Katsurazaka(

Kyoto City Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

) (

Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...

) -

International Research Center for Japanese Studies The , or Nichibunken (日文研), is an inter-university research institute in Kyoto. Along with the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the National Museum of Japanese History, and the National Museum of Ethnology (Japan), National Museum ...

* Kamigamo(Kyoto City) (Kyoto Prefecture) - Research Institute for Humanity and Nature * Toki (

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,910,511 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture ...

) - National Institute for Fusion Science * Okazaki (

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

) - Institute for Molecular Science, National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences * Mishima (

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

) - National Institute of Genetics * Sagamihara (Kanagawa Prefecture) -

* Tachikawa (

Tokyo Metropolis Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

) - National Institute of Japanese Literature,

National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics The (NINJAL) is an independent administrative institution in Japan, established for the purpose of studying, surveying, promoting, and making recommendations for the proper usage of the Japanese language.NINJALweb page (English)/ref> The insti ...

National Institute of Polar Research is the research institute responsible for scientific research and observation of the polar regions. NIPR manages several observation stations in the Arctic and Antarctica. It was founded in 1973. Research topics The NIPR conducts Arctic observa ...

* Mitaka (Tokyo Metropolis) -

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan The (NAOJ) is an astronomy, astronomical research organisation comprising several facilities in Japan, as well as an observatory in Hawaii and Chile. It was established in 1988 as an amalgamation of three existing research organizations - the To ...

* Chiyoda (Tokyo Metropolis) -

National Institute of Informatics The is a Japanese research institute located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. NII was established in April 2000 for the purpose of advancing the study of Informatics (academic field), informatics. This institute also works on creatin ...

* Sakura (

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

) - National Museum of Japanese History * Tsukuba (

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

) - High Energy Accelerator Research Organization * Tokai (Ibaraki Prefecture) - High Energy Accelerator Research Organization * Mizusawa ( Ōshū City) (

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

) -

* Nobeyama ( Minamimaki Village) (

Nagano Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture ...

) -

* Hawaii (

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

) -

* Atacama Desert (

Republic of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Oce ...

) -

* Showa Station (

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

) -

References

Japanese national universities Universities and colleges in Kanagawa Prefecture Universities and colleges established in 1988 Engineering universities and colleges in Japan 1988 establishments in Japan {{DEFAULTSORT:Graduate University for Advanced Studies