Niigata University of International and Information Studies

Niigata University of International and Information Studies is a relatively young university, having been founded in 1994 with the idea to cultivate people who can respond to the needs of our time – globalization and computerization. However, it has become a university that this region needs in order to cultivate those people, and the 5,801 graduates it has sent out into the world these past 23 years play important roles, largely right here in Niigata Prefecture.

The Mizukino Campus is located in the western part of Niigata City, in the middle of a rural area looking out onto Mt. Yahiko. This spacious campus is spread out amongst an abundance of nature, and in addition to being an ideal place to study, it is the perfect place for students to enjoy their youth. The Niigata Central Campus in downtown Niigata City is used for multiple purposes such as graduate research and open college public courses.

Our Founding Principles is to cultivate people who understand differences between Japanese and foreign culture and who can contribute to the information culture of many countries. To lead an information society and contribute to the advancement of the welfare of humankind while respecting national, regional, and human culture.

Nowadays, people are forming information networks based on more global values while placing importance on the differences in cultures rooted in regions and countries. Niigata University of International and Information Studies opened in order to use those networks to create true bonds so that people can coexist peacefully. We are striving for world peace by cultivating people who can contribute to the creation and further growth of information culture.

Information is continuing to take on a more important role in recent years since the world is demanding singularly globally-minded solutions to economic problems as well as environmental, hunger, and human rights problems. It speaks to the fact that the need to cultivate people who can contribute to globalization and computerization, the purpose for which our university was founded, is continuing to grow with more impetus than is imaginable.

This university is made up of two faculties. The Faculty of International Studies, which contains the Department of International Cultural Studies, and the Faculty of Information Culture, which contains the Information Systems Department. The Faculty of International Studies, which contains the Department of International Cultural Studies aims to cultivate useful people who can use their knowledge and ability in a global society by having its students learn by comparing Japanese society and culture to those of other countries. All first year students in this department will take Communicative English in addition to taking one foreign language from amongst American English, Chinese, Korean and Russian.

Students in the Faculty of Information Culture, which contains the Information Systems Department, will study the theory and practice of information technology and information systems in the network society that extends all over the world. The department also focuses on humanities education and small-group instruction that can help us produce people who can contribute in a computerized society. In recent years, we have also begun conducting continuous self-evaluation and improvements in order to achieve even higher levels of research and education.