Aoyama Gakuin University

Aoyama Gakuin has as its aim education based upon the Christian faith and as its purpose the building up of persons who live in sincerity before God, who seek for truth with humility, and who actively take responsibility for all people and for society in a spirit of love and service.

Aoyama Gakuin University is an educational and research institution based on the Educational Policy of Aoyama Gakuin which is to serve God and persons, contributing to society as the Salt of the Earth and Light of the World.

Our institution nurtures persons who, with a sound understanding based on global perspectives, possess the wisdom and strength with which to discover and solve issues personally. This is achieved through a wide range of barrier free academic research that
pursues service and commitment to humanity.

With respect for one another and the traditions of our institution, all faculty members, personnel and students are making an effort towards the creation of a university that is able to respond to the needs of its era.

Jesus Christ spoke of "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world," but this was a proclamation rather than an exhortation. Aoyama Gakuin is founded on the basis of the proclamation that your life is of inestimable value.

The Salt of the Earth: Salt adds taste, prevents spoilage and is used for purification. The human body needs a 0.7% concentration salt and we must consume 10–15 grams a day to live. This school will continue to produce individuals who strive to contribute significantly to society, resist corruption, and purify its degradation with creativity and humility.

Light provides brightness and warmth. Light leads people like a guiding light at a lighthouse, and it also disinfects and nourishes. In the same way, this school will forthrightly endeavor to create a robust and energetic society, igniting the spark of hope.

In contrast to its literal meanings, earth and world stand for "a world without God" and "the loss of human dignity." Hence, as the individuals who make up Aoyama Gakuin we are blessed by God as "Salt" and "Light," and we will strive to fulfill our purpose.

Aoyama Gakuin University, which has a distinct cultural ambiance, was founded as a university in 1949 with Aoyama Gakuin as its parent organization. Aoyama Gakuin, in turn, has three schools that were founded in 1874 by missionaries sent by the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States as its origin. Today, having 10 departments and 12 graduate courses, Aoyama Gakuin University is one of the general universities that plays a leading role among universities in Japan. As the 18th president of Aoyama Gakuin University, I want to do my utmost to reform the institution to further increase the esteem in which society holds it, cooperating with the teaching staff over the next four years.

For this and other reasons, I would like to work to further enrich the function of Aoyama Gakuin University as a place for scholarship and research. Scholarship and research at the university is a world in which prevailing views are doubted and there is more than just one correct answer. However, as one finds something resembling an answer he also recognizes the existence of a world previously unknown to him. The more one researches the more one becomes aware of the existence of unknown worlds. This is what research at the university reveals to us, and that is why I believe research is difficult, but also exciting. If teachers can vividly convey such aspects of research work to students, I expect students will start to get enthusiastic about it. Encountering such teachers would cause a student to make great strides. If we are able to foster such encounters and establish a system to support teachers, I expect that Aoyama Gakuin University will become "the university where students experience the greatest growth." That's because the students of Aoyama Gakuin have great potential, which is the very reason why we are considering the question of what kind of systemic reform is desirable at the university from various angles.

There are many issues to be addressed. Specifically, these include accepting many international students and filling the campus with international character while also using the English language tradition of Aoyama to conduct advanced language education so that many Aoyama University students can study abroad. They also include further enriching the internship system within Japan, institutionalizing volunteer activities, and diversifying research in seminars. I want to ambitiously tackle these issues and make the university brim with intellectual stimulation. Within this ambiance the students of Aoyama Gakuin will recognize their own abilities, acquire superior specialization and become aware of their own roles within Japan and the international community, thus to go on to play active roles as leaders who are kind to others. I would like Aoyama Gakuin University to be an institution that produces many such students.

In 1874, Dora E. Schoonmaker, who was a missionary sent to Japan by the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, founded the Girls' Elementary School, which is one of the three original schools of Aoyama Gakuin. In 1878, Julius Soper founded the Kokyo Gakusha Boys' School, and Robert S. Maclay founded the Methodist Mission Seminary in 1879. These three schools evolved into the present-day Aoyama Gakuin.

In 1883, the Methodist Mission Seminary and Tokyo English School merged to become the Tokyo Anglo-Japanese College, and then in 1894 the Tokyo.

Anglo-Japanese College was renamed Aoyama Gakuin. In 1927, Aoyama Gakuin and Aoyama Jogakuin merged, with Aoyama Gakuin becoming an academy comprising about 3,000 students by adding students from Aoyama Jogakuin to the student body of its Theological School, senior high school, and junior high school.

In 1949, the establishment of Aoyama Gakuin University was approved and the University opened with the three colleges of literature, commerce and engineering (Yokosuka Campus).
The Faculty of Law was established in 1959, the College of Science and Engineering was established in Megurisawa, Setagaya Ward in 1965 and the School of Business was founded in 1966.

In 1982, at the same time that the School of International Politics and Economics was founded, the freshmen and sophomores of the humanities departments and the freshmen of the College of Science and Engineering on the Setagaya Campus were transferred to the new campus established in Atsugi to enhance education at the University and expand its campus area. In 2003, Aoyama Gakuin closed the Atsugi and Setagaya campuses and opened the Sagamihara Campus, which integrates the humanities and sciences.

In 2008, the School of Cultural and Creative Studies and the School of Social Informatics were established, and the College of Education, Psychology and Human Studies was established in 2009. In 2013, the school campuses of the seven colleges of humanities and social sciences were transferred to the Aoyama Campus.

Since 2013, all undergraduate students spend their academic life at a single campus (Aoyama campus has seven faculties and Sagamihara has two faculties).

Our 10th faculty, the School of Global Studies and Collaboration opened in April 2015 at the Sagamihara Campus.