Dokkyo University

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Dokkyo University

Dokkyo University (獨協大学, Dokkyō Daigaku^?) is a private university in Sōka, Saitama, Japan, which is a fairly liberal, ideally mixed (co-educational) institution noted for its language education programmes and international exchanges.

[edit] History

The name "Dokkyo" is the Japanese-style dual kanji-based abbreviation of Verein für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society (獨逸學協會, Doitsu-gaku Kyōkai^?). What was to become today's Dokkyo University was founded on 18 September 1881 by such Enlightenment scholars as Nishi Amane (西周, Nishi Amane^?) and Katō Hiroyuki (加藤弘之, Katō Hiroyuki^?), such leading diplomats as Inoue Kaoru (井上毅, Inoue Kaoru^?) and Viscount Aoki Shūzo (青木周藏, Aoki Shūzō^?) and those famous statesmen such as Shinagawa Yajiroh (品川彌二郎, Shinagawa Yajirō^?) and Katsura Tarō (桂太郎, Katsura Tarō^?) as Verein für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society (獨逸學協會, Doitsu-gaku Kyōkai^?), with its first chancellor being His Imperial Highness Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa (北白川宮能久親王, Kitashirakawa-no-miya Yoshihisa-shinnō^?). It developed into Schule des Vereins für deutsche Wissenschaften, or German Studies Society School (獨逸學協會學校, Doitsu-gaku Kyōkai Gakkō^?) in 1883, which opened its door exclusively to boys in line with the custom at the time. They also founded a highly prestigious law school to give teachings about Japan's first constitution (The Constitution of the Great Empire of Japan (大日本帝國憲法, Dai Nippon Teikoku Kempō^?) modelled after the Prussian one and the criminal codes also modelled after the German ones, but the elite law division was absorbed by the Imperial University of Tokyo (東京帝國大學, Tōkyō Teikoku Daigaku^?) Faculty of Law in 1895. The school went through a minor negative campaign during the war against the German Empire (Deutsches Reich) from August 1914 to November 1918, but the majority of the Japanese public was either pro-German or neutral despite Japan's role on the British side. The 1920s saw its heyday when the school sent the highest number of boys into the nation's top Daiichi Kōtō Gakkō (第一高等学校, Daiichi Kōtō Gakkō^?) ("High School No.1") in Tokyo, or popularly known as "Ichikō", which is today's Liberal Arts campus of the University of Tokyo (東京大学, Tōkyō Daigaku^?). The collapse of the two great empires of Germany and Japan in 1945, however, rendered the elite school into a mere boys' high school of middle rank. During the early 1960s Dokkyo School's graduate and former Education Minister Amano Teiyū (天野貞祐, Amano Teiyū^?) was invited to "found" the University with money from the school and local governments. They started their first ever lectures on a higher education level in April 1964.

[edit] International Exchanges

Academic Exchange Agreements with:
- University of Essex, England, UK (since 1983)
- Universität Duisburg-Essen (University of Duisburg-Essen), Germany (since 1984）
- University of Alabama, USA (since 1992）
- University of Wollongong, Australia (since 1996）
- Université Catholique de l'Ouest, France (since 1997）
- York University, Canada (since 1998）
- Cardiff University (or Prifysgol Caerdydd), Wales, UK (since 1999）
- Fudan University (復旦大学), China (since 1999）
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA (since 2002）
- Catholic University of Daegu (大邱가톨릭大學校; 대구가톨릭대학교), Korea (since 2003）
- Universität Wien (University of Vienna), Austria (since 2003）
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia (since 2004）
- Inha University (仁荷大學校; 인하대학교), Korea (since 2006）
- Institut d'études politiques de Lyon (Lyon Institute of Political Science), France (since 2006）
- Hochschule Bremen (University of Applied Sciences Bremen), Germany (since 2006）
- Universität Marburg (Philipps- Universität Marburg, Germany

Exchange Agreements with:
- Université de Bourgogne (University of Burgundy), France (since 1985）
- University of Illinois, USA (since 1998）
- Universität Münster (or Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität), Germany (since 2004）