, also known in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

as , is a public research university located in

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

, Hyōgo,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The university was established in 1949, but the academic origins of Kobe University trace back to the establishment of Kobe Higher Commercial School in 1902, which was renamed as Kobe University of Commerce in 1929, and Kobe University of Economics in 1940. It comprises 14 graduate schools and 11 undergraduate faculties, and holds about 16,000 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. International students accounted for 1,179 members of the student body as of 1 May 2021. It also has 3,102 staff members, including professors, associate professors and administrative officials. The university is known to be the sole university in Japan to have a faculty dedicated to maritime sciences. It was also the first university to establish a faculty dedicated to business administration in the country.

History

The roots of the university can be traced back to 1902, when the was established. Its first president was . In 1929 this school was renamed ,Graduate School of Economics, Faculty of Economics, Kobe University
/ref> and it was further renamed in 1944, . In 1949, under Japan's new educational systems, the university was merged with Hyogo Normal School, Hyogo Junior Normal School, Kobe Technical College and Himeji High School, all of which were in

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

, leading to the creation of ''Kobe University''. The university has since been expanded and has created new faculties to complement its main academic foundations, which have been strongly established in the fields of economics and commerce.

Organisation

Undergraduate faculties

* * * * * * * * * *

Graduate schools

* Graduate School of Humanities * Graduate School of Intercultural Studies * Graduate School of Human Development and Environment * Graduate School of Law **Tier 1 full-time law school * Graduate School of Economics ** The Okishio Theorem ( Nobuo Okishio) is well known and appreciated worldwide * Graduate School of Business Administration **Tier 1 full-time MBA school * Graduate School of Science * Graduate School of Medicine * Graduate School of Health Sciences * Graduate School of Engineering * Graduate School of System Informatics * Graduate School of Agricultural Science * Graduate School of Maritime Sciences * Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies

Research institutes

* Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration

Campuses

The university comprises four campuses: Rokkodai, Kusunoki, Myodani, and Fukae. Rokkodai Campus is the main campus of the university, and nine out of the eleven faculties are located there.

Rokkodai area

* Campus :Law, Economics, Business Administration (2-1, Rokkodai,

Nada-ku, Kobe is one of nine wards of Japan, wards of Kobe, Japan. It has an area of 31.4 km², and a population of 129,095 (2008). A leading national university, Kobe University, is located in this ward, as is the city's Oji Zoo. The Tadao Ando-design ...

) * Campus :Letters, Science, Agriculture, Engineering (1-1, Rokkodai, Nada-ku, Kobe) * Campus :Intercultural Studies (1-2-1, Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe) * Campus :Human Development (3-11, Tsurukabuto, Nada-ku, Kobe)

Kusunoki area

* Campus :Medicine (7-5-1, Kusunoki,

Chūō-ku, Kobe is one of 9 wards of Kobe, Japan. It has an area of 28.46 km2, and a population of 127,602 with 74,814 households as of January 31, 2012. The ward was formed from the 1980 merger of the former Fukiai-ku () and Ikuta-ku (). The Consulat ...

)

Myodani area

* Campus :Health Sciences (7-10-2, Tomogaoka,

Suma-ku, Kobe is one of 9 wards of Japan, wards of Kobe, Japan. Population As of February 1, 2012, it had an area of 30.0 km2 and a population of 166,324, with 71,745 households. Attractions There is a white sandy beach in this ward, which attracts ...

)

Fukae area

* Campus :Maritime Sciences (5-1-1, Fukaeminami, Higashinada-ku, Kobe)

Academic reputation and rankings

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

ranked the university 465th in the world in 2024. In 2023, THE World University Rankings categorised the university within the 601-800th tier globally, without specifying an exact rank.

Popularity and selectivity

Shindai is a popular university in Japan. Its admission process is usually considered as selective. It is ranked in top 20 in Japan.

International education

Scholarships for international students

Kobe university encourages international students to study at the university through a number of scholarships for eligible students. Some of them are: *Japanese Government Scholarship System *JASSO/ Honors Scholarship *Hyogo Prefecture Private Foreign Student Scholarship *Kobe/Sugawara Scholarship

Notable alumni

Sosuke_Uno_19890603.jpg, Sōsuke Uno, 75th

Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...

Sanae Takaichi 20100909.jpg, Sanae Takaichi, Minister of State for Economic Security of Japan Sazō Idemitsu.jpg, Sazō Idemitsu, founder,

Idemitsu Kosan is a Japanese petroleum company. It owns and operates oil platforms, Oil refinery, refineries, produces and sells petroleum, oils and petrochemical products, and also operates gas stations under the brand and until 2023, in its own ''Idemitsu' ...

Co., Ltd. Rizaburo Toyoda.jpg, Rizaburo Toyoda, The first president of the

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Co., Ltd. Masato_Sagawa_March_3,_2014-.png, Masato Sagawa, the 2022

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * ...

laureate PM_Modi_during_a_visit_to_the_stem_cell_research_centre_at_Kyoto_University_(cropped).jpg, Shinya Yamanaka, the 2012

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

winner 脇田晴子.jpg, Haruko Wakita, historical researcher, Order of Culture *Politics ** Sōsuke Uno, 75th

** Masayuki Naoshima, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (Japan) ** Sanae Takaichi, Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy *Technology ** Sazō Idemitsu, founder,

Co., Ltd. ** Rizaburo Toyoda, founder, the first president of the

Co., Ltd. ** Tadahiro Sekimoto, recipient of the

IEEE Medal of Honor The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the American Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, and is presented to an individual or team of up to three who have made exceptional contri ...

, ex-CEO,

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

Co., Ltd. *Academic ** Masato Sagawa,

Neodymium magnet A nickel-plated neodymium magnet on a bracket from a hard disk drive file:Nd-magnet.jpg">Nickel-plated neodymium magnet cubes Left: high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image of Nd2Fe14B; right: crystal structure with unit cell mar ...

researcher, awarded the

in 2022 ** Shinya Yamanaka,

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

researcher, awarded the

in 2012 ** Haruko Wakita, historical researcher,

Order of Culture The is a Japanese Order (decoration), order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japanese Art, Japan's art, Japanese Literature, literature, science, technolog ...

in 2010 *Arts ** Shirin Nezammafi, Iranian writer ** Shijaku Katsura II, Rakugo performer ** Kuranosuke Sasaki, Japanese actor **

Kumi Tanioka is a Japanese composer and pianist. Born in Hiroshima, Japan, she graduated from Kobe University with a degree in musical performance, and began working as a video game composer in 1998. She joined video game developer and publisher Square tha ...

, Japanese

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

music composer and musician ** Yasuo Mizui, Sculptor, awarded

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

(Commandeur)

Notable faculty

* Yasutomi Nishizuka, biochemist, awarded the

Lasker Award In 1945 Albert Lasker and Mary Woodard Lasker created the Lasker Awards. Every year since then the award has been given to the living person considered to have made the greatest contribution to medical science or who has demonstrated public ser ...

in 1989 * Ichiro Fujimori, visiting professor, electrical engineer

References

External links

* {{Authority control Kansai Six (original) Japanese national universities Education in Kobe Kobe University Buildings and structures in Kobe Kansai Collegiate American Football League Art Deco architecture in Japan