Saitama Prefectural University is a public institution based in Koshigaya, a town in the Greater Tokyo prefecture of Saitama known for its production of Daruma Dolls, expressions of Buddhist symbolism.
The university was created in succession to the Saitama Prefectural Junior College of Hygiene set up in 1975. Planning for the institution began in 1993 with a provisional title of Prefectural School of Nursing and Welfare, and developed under the current name in 1999.
Starting with a single school of health and social services aimed at "the realisation of an inclusive society", it has since added a department of health sciences, a graduate school, and in 2016 a Research and Development Centre. Aiming to create "individuals who can act independently in a critical spirit", it espouses the principles of cultivation, enterprise and emergence.
The student body is overwhelmingly female with women accounting for 84 per cent of an undergraduate roll of 1,687 undergraduates in 2017, and strongly local, with more than half coming from Saitama.
Degree courses are offered by the departments of nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social welfare and child science and health sciences, but all have elements provided by the department of liberal arts which offers languages, natural science, arts and social science options.
There is also an emphasis on interdisciplinarity, while links with 160 health and welfare facilities in Saitama giving students hands-on problem-solving experience. SPU students consistently score above average pass rates in the national examinations required for entry into the various professional disciplines covered by the university.
