Developing human resources to support policy research fields
In Japan, companies, government agencies, international organizations, and others are increasingly pointing out the need for systematic training of highly skilled experts with excellent policy analysis and planning skills who can respond appropriately to new policy issues, and who also have internationally recognized doctorates. Furthermore, the current situation is not necessarily sufficient in terms of training policy researchers who can respond to the new era. Therefore, there is a need for training institutions for highly skilled experts and researchers who can solve real-world problems.
In this way, the Graduate School will provide comprehensive education and research focused on policy research, aiming to achieve rapid progress in policy research, while also responding to the social demand for training and re-education of specialized researchers in this field, as well as highly skilled experts with excellent policy analysis and policy planning skills.
Structured education and research guidance
The Graduate Graduate School of Policy Studies, Doctoral Program is a three-year doctoral program, and accepts master's degree holders from a variety of academic fields, regardless of their field of specialization, in recognition of the fact that the research field is comprehensive and broad-ranging. In addition, we actively accept working professionals who have achieved excellent research results in government agencies, local governments, international organizations, private companies, research institutes, etc., as well as international students who wish to promote policy research from a global perspective.
We believe that one of the most important missions of this graduate school is to develop advanced skills in policy practice, particularly among working adults, and we aim to open our doors widely and promote practical research.
In education and research, students are taught the basic concepts of policy research from each policy field, while at the same time acquiring a wide range of knowledge and skills that will form the basis of comprehensive judgment. On top of that, they receive practical research guidance such as case studies and fieldwork, and are individually guided in writing a dissertation on each student's area of policy interest.
In this graduate school, students with outstanding achievements and results can earn a doctorate in one year. We also provide a special arrangement for students working for companies or government agencies, such as concentrating classes on Saturdays, so that they can earn a doctorate while continuing their work.
Education and research guidance methods
Policy research requires that the process of learning a wide range of interdisciplinary knowledge and reconstructing knowledge be carried out in an empirical and practical manner. In particular, since this graduate school expects to admit students with a diverse range of academic and practical careers, students are required to earn credits to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for research from courses offered in the Graduate Graduate School of Commerce, Graduate School of Accounting & Finance, MBA Program, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, and the Faculty of Policy and Information Studies at our university. If there are no suitable courses offered at our university, students may be required to take courses from other universities with which we have credit transfer agreements.
1. Introduction of the semester system
In order to intensively carry out education and research during the three-year doctoral program, the program is structured on a semester basis (spring and fall semesters).
2. Advisory and Navigator Systems
Under the advisory system, a faculty member is assigned to act as an advisor to each graduate student during their first semester. These faculty members are called advisory faculty members.
The Navigator System assigns faculty members as navigators from the second semester onward in applied project exercises and doctoral dissertation guidance in order to respect the independence of graduate students while at the same time promoting efficient research. These faculty members are called Navigator Faculty Members, and the faculty members who provide special guidance in doctoral dissertation guidance in the fifth and sixth semesters are called Main Navigator Faculty Members.