One of 16 universities in the city, Hiroshima University of Economics (HUEC) is a private institution which was established in 1967 as the first university specialising in economics in the Chyoko and Shikoku region of Japan.
The campus is linked to Hiroshima city centre, eight kilometres away by a shuttle bus service, while overseas students live in a dormitory about a 10 minute walk away.
Tracing its roots back to the foundation of Ishida Gakuen in 1907, it grew steadily following its creation as a university with a single faculty, of economics. Adding a department of business administration in 1974, it introduced masters courses in 1979 and doctorates in 1990 and new departments of regional economics in 1999, information systems in 2002, media business in 2004 and most recently, sports business administration – for "business professionals who understand sport" in 2011.
With a philosophy of "working together in harmony", it espouses the Confucian ideal that "the purpose of higher education is to clarify one’s own nature" and aims to produce graduates who are Koudoujin or "people of involvement and action who can create something from nothing".
A key element in their courses is the Kodoukan Development Programme whose aim is to develop personal skills. The Graduate School focuses on "thinking outside the box".
A student body of just under 3,000 students, around two-thirds studying economics or business administration, is heavily male with women accounting for only around 15 per cent. Since 2009 students have run a community radio station called FM Ham-Star.
