Kanda University of International Studies

Located in the coastal region of Mihama-ku, in Chiba, Japan, Kanda University of International studies is a private research university specialising in languages and international studies.

The university was founded in 1987 as part of the Kanda Institute of Foreign Languages in Tokyo but has grown to become one of the top universities in Japan for international study.

Courses here are centred heavily around language skills, and students are encouraged to study English alongside either another language such as Spanish, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese or Portuguese.

The university has a small but specialist student body of around 4,000 students, and is split into six departments: English, Chinese, Spanish, international communication and languages and culture.

English, the largest department, is home to the English Language Institute, where a variety of language proficiency courses are taught by linguists from around the world. The institute is popular for its modern, custom designed building, which is home to blended learning spaces with multi-media teaching and learning facilities. Here, spaces are allocated for conversation practice as well as quiet study.

The university’s Graduate School of Language Sciences was opened in 1992, and offers master’s programmes in Japanese with English linguistics, Japanese with English pedagogy and English communication studies. In 1996, the graduate school was designated as a “Centre of Excellence” by the Japanese Ministry of Education.

The university prides itself on its autonomous approach to teaching and learning, and students are encouraged to design their own learning initiatives. A designated professional development committee is responsible for coordinating these activities – some examples of which include abstract and writing circles to provide feedback on academic paper writing, reading discussion groups, and guest speaker presentations.

During downtime, students can enjoy nearby Inage Beach, which forms part of the longest artificial beach in Japan, or Chiba City Zoological Park, which is home to red pandas. Chiba city is a 15 minute drive away and Tokyo takes around 40 minutes to reach by train.