Faculty introduction
Faculty of Letters
Building on foundational knowledge of language, literature, history, and philosophy, the Faculty of Letters conducts research and education in the fields of Japanese Linguistics, Japanese Literature, and Japanese Language Education; and English Linguistics, British Literature, American Literature, and English Language Education.
- Department of Japanese Language & Literature (Number of Students: 45)
- Department of English Language & Literature (Number of Students: 45)
Faculty of Environmental & Symbiotic Sciences
The Faculty of Environmental & Symbiotic Sciences conducts research and education aimed at achieving the peaceful coexistence of humans with their natural environment. We approach environmental and symbiotic issues within a holistic framework, seeing our rich nature as a resource to use sustainably to support human activity, and aiming to ensure that local residents are able to live a comfortable and healthy life by supporting local development and improvement of wellbeing.
(Department of Environmental & Symbiotic Sciences)
- Division of Environmental Resources (Number of Students: 30)
- Division of Human Habitats (Number of Students: 40)
- Division of Food & Health Environmental Sciences (Number of Students: 40)
Faculty of Administrative Studies
The Faculty of Administrative Studies conducts research and education in administrative studies, systematically integrating sociology, public administration, social welfare, management, and information science to solve diverse and complex social issues.
- Department of Administrative Studies (Number of Students: 280)
Center for General Education
The purpose of the Center for Common Education is to improve and enhance common education in cooperation with each faculty, graduate school, and center.
- Organization and management of the common education curriculum
- Planning and management of the teaching curriculum
- Planning and implementation of matters related to the improvement and enhancement of common education
Outline of Common Education
We aim to nurture human resources who “live in the community and grow in the world” through a common education that makes full use of the unique characteristics of Kumamoto Prefectural University as a “university that integrates the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.
Common education consists of two categories: basic education and liberal arts education.
Basic education includes the fields of “Foreign Languages (English, German, French, Chinese, Korean),” “Information Processing,” “Career Design,” “Health and Sports Science,” and “Regional Understanding and Leadership” to develop the basic skills needed to act in the university and society.
In the area of liberal arts education, we take advantage of the unique characteristics of Kumamoto Prefectural University, where the “humanities,” “natural sciences,” and “social sciences” are all integrated, and offer many classes from each academic field. By offering these classes, we aim to cultivate citizenship through common education, as well as to nurture views and ways of thinking about modern society.
In today’s increasingly fragmented society, there is a need for a rich humanity and the ability to make accurate judgments. Kumamoto Prefectural University offers a wide variety of courses to help students understand the complexity of modern society and develop human resources who can “live locally and grow globally.
Moyaist Development System
Under the slogan “Think Globally Act Locally,” the Prefectural University of Kumamoto is striving to develop human resources who are rooted in the community and have an eye on the world. We use the term “Moyaist” as a concept to express the purpose of our human resource development. The word “moyai” in the term “Moyaist” originally meant to connect ships to each other, and is derived from the word “moyai-naoshi” which means to rebuild people, nature, and local communities.
The “Moyaist Development Program” aims to nurture human resources (Moyaist) who have an understanding of the nature, culture and society of Kumamoto, go beyond the boundaries of their specialty, recognize and discover issues on their own, and work together with local people to solve problems as “key persons for regional development.
The “Moyaist Global Program” aims to nurture students who can flexibly respond to regional issues and work with a global perspective.
Japan Studies Program
In the past, international students have found it difficult to take part in semester-long or year-long programs at PUK because of the Japanese language skills needed to attend regular classes. Our Japan Studies program was created to address that problem by offering a broadbased set of classes taught in English, some offered in the first (spring) and some in the second (autumn) semester. These classes are aimed both at international students who want to study in an English medium and home students who want to broaden their horizons and boost their English skills. In addition to the regular Japan Studies program, we also offer a short, intensive English-medium program (the Japan Studies Intensive Program) under the Japan Studies moniker whereby a partner university is invited to send a small number of students to participate with PUK students in a residential program focused on local and global issues. Note that, as of March 2021, the Japan Studies Intensive Course is temporarily suspended because of the COVID-19 crisis.
