Niimi University

Niimi University changed its name from Niimi Junior College in 2019 which completed a characteristically Japanese progression from junior college to university. This public institution based in Niimi City, Okayama Prefecture was initially established as Niimi Women’s College in 1980 and offered courses in nursing and early childhood education.

It then became the College of Welfare from 1996, and started to accept male students at the same time that it attained Junior College status in 1999. It became a public university corporation in 2008, started to offer four-year courses in nursing in 2010 and was accredited by the Japanese University Accreditation Association (JUAA) from 2012.

It has maintained its focus on the same disciplines, with the renaming in 2019 accompanied by an administrative reorganisation, the construction of a new building and the extension of four-year courses in early childhood education and community welfare.

It describes itself as "Deeply rooted in the local community with a strong human network, aimed at nurturing splendid personnel who pioneer in activating the community and giving education and research results back to society at large from the international point of view", and reckons to have "provided a high quality of education by taking advantage of the relatively small size of the university". Its intake quotas in 2018 were in the region of 200, with nursing taking the largest cohort.

In 2016 assessors from the Japanese University Accreditation Association pointed to particular strengths in practical and experiential learning, much of it derived from strong community activities and programmes such as "nursing practice for life support" focusing on "meaningful practice in the community".