History and Development

The Traditions and Spirit of Aichi Shukutoku University

Aichi Shukutoku University was established in 1975, but its parent body the Aichi Shukutoku Gakuen was born in 1905 as Aichi Shukutoku School for Girls. A year after its establishment, it became the first private high school for girls in Aichi Prefecture, Aichi Shukutoku High School for Girls. The new Meiji government emphasized education, and strived to spread education by establishing a compulsory education system to improve the education of its people by establishing junior high schools, high schools and universities.
The education at the time from junior high and beyond, however, was focused almost exclusively on male students. In the first place, the vast majority of regional high schools and universities were for male students, and very few junior schools (present day junior high schools) were available for female students. At the time the school was established, there were only three high schools for girls in Aichi, one run by the prefecture, one run by the city of Nagoya, and one run by the town of Toyohashi.
It was in this environment that the Aichi Shukutoku Private High School for Girls became the first private high school for girls in Aichi prefecture. Its private education was significant and unique in that the school was established on its assertion and purposes that were distinct from the trends for girls in those days.
In a period when gentleness and chastity were thought to be the primary virtues of a woman, the founder of the Aichi Shukutoku Gakuen, Professor Seisaku Kobayashi, said “I do not believe that a woman’s sole virtues are her gentleness and chastity. A woman must have a sense of her own personal identity.” He set “developing human resources to meet our needs 10 or 20 years into the future,” as the educational goals of the institution. He promoted sports in the girls’ school to cultivate women who are healthy physically and mentally rather than ladies brought up in good families.
Such spirit and purpose on which the school was founded manifested in how the school made English and Science compulsory subjects unlike education in other girls’ schools where household arts and sewing were the main subjects, how it made its name Aichi Shukutoku for Sports known throughout Japan, and how it practiced education that was ahead of its times by being one of the first to adopt a European style uniform and introduce school trips. That is how the school made a clear distinction from girls’ school education of the times that was aimed at developing virtuous good wives and wise mothers.
At the same time that Professor Seisaku Kobayashi was putting forth “developing human resources to meet our needs 10 or 20 years into the future” as his policy for education, he was preaching the “spirit of feminine virtue” (Shukutoku) to his students. The “spirit of feminine virtue” means the spirit of covert act of virtue and perseverance in adversity. The phrase became the school’s motto, “modesty and grace”, “simple and sturdy”, which are still alive today as the school’s tradition and spirit.
After World War II, the Japanese school systems went through significant changes and girls high schools were divided into junior high and high schools. The Aichi Shukutoku Private High School for Girls also restarted as the Aichi Shukutoku Junior High School and Aichi Shukutoku High School. In further response to the needs of society, the Aichi Shukutoku Gakuen established the Aichi Shukutoku Junior College in 1961, and established the Aichi Shukutoku University Faculty of Letters, Department of Japanese Language and Literature, and Department of English Language and Literature in 1975. With this achievement, Aichi Shukutoku Gakuen was able to contribute to the education of women all the way from junior high school to university.

Philosophy of the University and its Progress
Aichi Shukutoku University inherited the spirit and tradition of the Aichi Shukutoku Gakuen upon its establishment. Along with the Aichi Shukutoku Junior College, it was valued in the community as a women’s university, and they both responded to the expectations by expanding their faculties and departments. The Aichi Shukutoku University was established as a Faculty of Letters with two departments. In order to respond to the age of globalization of late years, as well as the rapid progress of information society and diversification and changes in the educational environment of lifelong learning, in April 1985, it subsequently expanded to include the Department of Library and Information Science, and in April 1991, the Department of Communication Studies.
Amidst such trend of the time and society, the university established the University Philosophy Exploratory Committee to build its new philosophy to achieve the “developing human resources to meet our needs 10 or 20 years into the future”, and to engage in creating a new university. This was in 1993, when the university was nearing its 20th anniversary.
The committee held discussions for over a year, and adopted the philosophy of “living with diversity.” The committee further established the following ideals for the students to master, “rooted in the community,open to the world”, “that which is useful and that which is unchanging”, and “strength and compassion”. The university was expected to be instrumental as “the place that creates new values by exchanging different values”.
1995 was the 20th anniversary of the university and co-education was begun as a step towards realizing these goals. The university also sought to make its curriculum more comprehensive with the establishment of the Faculty of Studies on Contemporary Society. In an effort to create an environment where students are “living with diversity,” the university not only incorporated students of different genders, but also admitted international students by transcending nationalities, and adult students of various ages and generations. The university aims to improve its philosophy further with a view to providing equal educational opportunities for healthy students and disabled students, and to live in coexistence with the natural environment.
In further pursuit of a more comprehensive curriculum, Aichi Shukutoku University established the Faculty of Communication Studies and the Faculty of Creativity and Culture in 2000. With the establishment of four faculties, the education and research of the university was strengthened both in name and substance. Furthermore, upon the 100th anniversary of the Aichi Shukutoku Gakuen in 2005, Hoshigaoka and Nagakute campus environments were renovated, and in 2004, the Faculty of Business was established in Nagakute and the Faculty of Medical Welfare was established in Hoshigaoka. In 2007, the Department of Education was established under the Faculty of Letters in Nagakute.
During that period in April 1989, it established the Master’s Course consisting of three departments, the Graduate School of Letters, Japanese Language and Literature, English Language and Literature, and Library and Information Science, and in April 1991, it added the Doctoral Course to those graduate schools. In April 1995, it established the Graduate School of Communication Studies with two departments, the Department of Human Communication (name changed to Psychology in April 2001), and the Department of Cross-cultural Communication (name changed to Language Communication in April 2005), and from April 1998, it established the Doctoral Course in those graduate schools. In April 1999, it established the Graduate School of Studies on Contemporary Society Master’s Course, and in April 2002, it established the Doctoral Course in the said graduate school.
Furthermore, in April 2004, it established the Graduate School of Creativity and Culture Master’s Course consisting of two departments, the Department of Creative Writing and the Department of Global Philanthropy, and in April 2005, it separated the Doctoral Course of the Graduate School of Business Department of Business from the Graduate School of Communication Studies Doctoral Course. In 2006, it established the Master’s Course in Graduate School of Medical Welfare, and in 2007, it established the Graduate School of Business, Department of Accountancy, a professional graduate school.
In order to share the successes of our research in education with the greater community, the university established the Aichi Shukutoku University Clinic, and offered services not only to students but to the general public.
In 2008, Aichi Shukutoku University was reforming the graduate school, adding the Graduate School of Global Culture and Communication, and the Graduate School of Letters, Department of Letters, and the Graduate School of Psychology, Department of Psychology. The Graduate School of Medical Welfare Master’s Course was being divided into a Master’s Course and a Doctoral Course.
Aichi Shukutoku University will continue striving to meet the needs of society in the spirit of “Tradition and Beyond”, and aim for enrichment and continuous development of its education and research components.

1905

Aichi Shukutoku School for Girls opens
(Naka Ward, Nagoya City)

1906

Becomes Aichi Shukutoku Private High School for Girls
(Aichi’s first private high school for girls certified by the Education Ministry.)
Relocates to Higashi Ward, Nagoya City

1919

Changes its name from Aichi Shukutoku Private High School for Girls to Aichi Shukutoku High School for Girls

1928

Relocates to Ikeshita-machi, Chikusa Ward, Nagoya City

1947

Aichi Shukutoku Junior High School opens

1948

Aichi Shukutoku High School opens

1959

Relocates to its current address in Sakuragaoka, Chikusa Ward

1961

Aichi Shukutoku Junior College opens

1975

Aichi Shukutoku University opens
(Establishes the Faculty of Letters, Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Department of English Language and Literature)

1985

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Letters

1989

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Letters, Master’s Course

1991

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Communication Studies
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Letters, Doctoral Course

1992

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Center for Japanese Language and Culture
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Extension Center

1994

Opens the Aichi Shukutoku University, International House

1995

Makes the transition to a co-educational system
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Studies on Contemporary Society, Department of Studies on Contemporary Society
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Communication Studies, Master’s Course (Department of Human Communication and Department of Cross-cultural Communication)

1998

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Communication Studies, Doctoral Course

1999

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Studies of Contemporary Society, Master’s Course

2000

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Communication Studies, Department of Psychology and Communication, the Department of Business Communication and the Department of Language Communication
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Creativity and Culture, Department of Creativity and Culture (Representation Studies Course, Multicultural Studies Course and Environmental Studies Course)

2001

Renames the Department of Communication Studies, Human Communication Course to the Department of Psychology

2002

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Studies on Contemporary Society, Doctoral Course
Closes the Aichi Shukutoku Junior College

2004

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Business, Department of Business
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Medical Welfare, Department of Community Care Philanthropy and the Department of Health Science (Speech Hearing Science Course and Visual Science Course)
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Creativity and Culture, Master’s Course (Department of Creative Writing and Department of Global Philanthropy)
The Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Medical Welfare, Department of Health Science, Speech Hearing Science Course is designated as a school of speech therapy, and the Visual Science Course is designated as skills training.

2005

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Business, Doctoral Course
Renames the Graduate School of Communication Studies, the Department of Cross-cultural Communication to the Department of Language Communication

2006

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Medical Welfare, Master’s Course
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University Clinic

2007

Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Education
Establishes the Aichi Shukutoku University, Graduate School of Business, Department of Accountancy

2008

Reorganizes the Aichi Shukutoku University Graduate School of Letters, Department of English Language and Literature, the Graduate School of Communication Studies, Department of Language Communication, and Department of Global Philanthropy and establishes the Graduate School of Global Culture and Communication
Reorganizes the Aichi Shukutoku University Graduate School of Letters, Japanese Language and Literature Course, and Library and Information Science Course, and establishes the Literature Course
Renames the Graduate School of Communication Studies, Department of Psychology to the Graduate School of Psychology
Establishes the Graduate School of Medical Welfare, Doctoral Course

2010

Department of Human Informatics of Faculty of Human Informatics is established.

Title of Department of Communication Psychology of Faculty of Communication is changed to Department of Psychology of Faculty of Psychology.

Department of Media Theories and Production of Faculty of Media Theories and Production is established.

Department of Medical Sciences of Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, and Department of Sports and Health Sciences are established.

Department of Social Services of Faculty of Human Services is established.

Department of Global Culture and Communication of Faculty of Global Culture and Communication is established.

Master program (Department of Developmental Education) of Graduate School of Education is established.