Kyoto Prefectural University

The Kyoto Prefectural Public University Corporation was established in 2008, and the university now consists of three faculties: the Faculty of Letters, the Faculty of Public Policy and the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences; and three graduate schools: the Graduate School of Letters, the Graduate School of Public Policy and the Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences.

With the reorganization of our university to an independent administrative corporation in April of 2008, we enacted the "Philosophy of Kyoto Prefectural University" in which all the members of the university will share, and based upon that we enacted the "Charter of Action of Kyoto Prefectural University". In the preamble of the charter we stated: "Kyoto has a long cultural tradition and we respect the history of our university having acted as a seat of learning with the support of our citizens for more than 110 years. We endeavor to continue carrying out this mission in concert with our students. In addition, making efforts to realize coexistence with nature, we contribute not only to the development of the communities and improvement of Kyoto citizens' life, but also to human happiness by cultivating talented individuals who have a strong awareness of academics, an advanced level of intellect and sophistication, and a high sense of expertise and ethical judgment, all based upon a spirit of autonomy and independence cultivated through the promotion of original state-of-the-art research." Therefore, we proposed these guidelines and themes from which the members of our university will work to achieve these aims.

One of the defining features of Kyoto Prefectural University is its modest scale which spans the fields of human sciences, social sciences and natural sciences, and is comprised of the three faculties and the three graduate schools mentioned above. With 153 full-time tenured faculty members for its capacity of 1,683 students, we regard it as advantageous as it enables us to provide instruction in smaller groups and educate individuals who will go on to serve as the backbone of society in these fields. The faculty, office personnel and students also share close relationships and work in unison to grapple with creative educational opportunities and scholarship. We are proud of our solid academic tradition and the tone of our academic community.

In the same manner as national and private universities, public universities also assume a common mission in the field of higher education, which is the quest for truth and the development of character. Moreover, Kyoto Prefectural University in its capacity as a public university has a specific goal. It is to contribute to the improvement of the regional community and the quality of life in Kyoto as a seat of learning. In order to accomplish this goal, we established both the Community Corporation Center and Kyoto Policy Institute which conduct research and make policy recommendations on regional issues in cooperation with the local community, citizens and the entire prefecture. We also develop various projects to meet the citizens? desire to enhance their lifestyle, and opportunities for lifelong education. Furthermore, by cooperating with the Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archives, adjacent to our campus, we are investigating the history and culture of Kyoto, and preparing for the establishment of the International Kyoto Studies Center for the purpose of spreading our research throughout the world.