Sunday 30 March 2014

An English Education in Japan: Waseda University

Written by Stefanie Yeo


A statue of Waseda University’s founder, Mr Shigenobu Okuma.
Photo by Bryan Chua

Arriving at Waseda University on Tuesday morning, we were greeted by a lovely vision – cherry blossoms blooming. After our harrowing experience on the train during the peak hour ride, which included getting lost, separated, and squashed like sardines, the lovely sakura flowers were a welcome sight.

Cherry blossoms blooming in Waseda.
Photo by Bryan Chua

Waseda was our first stop on the third day of our great adventure in Tokyo. Personally, I feel that the town of Waseda is similar to Oxford and Cambridge, in the sense that the entire town is the University.

Waseda has several campuses located within the town, much like how the universities of Oxford and Cambridge have various small colleges within their universities. When I visited Oxford and Cambridge in 2011, I felt that they were serene and scholarly – similar to that of Waseda, with university towns teeming with convenience stores, bookshops and food of all sorts available at every corner.

Our first stop at Waseda University’s main campus was the Okuma Auditorium. The Okuma Auditorium was built to commemorate the institution’s founder, Mr Shigenobu Okuma, who was the 8th and 17th Prime Minister of Japan. We learnt that Waseda University was founded in retaliation, so to speak, of the elitist upper-class mentality that was held by other universities during the Meiji era.

We also found out that unlike Meiji University, which has its famous Akamon (“Red Gate”), Waseda University has no such gate. This is to symbolize the fact that Waseda University is open to everyone, regardless of social status or family background.

 FMS Tokyo Trip 2014 at Okuma Auditorium with FMS alumni Lee Xian Jie and Jeremy Boo.
Photo by Craig McTurk

After visiting the auditorium, we attended a presentation conducted by Waseda University on their English-language Degree Programmes. Despite being a Japanese university, Waseda offers undergraduate degree programs in English. One does not necessarily need to be able to communicate in Japanese to enrol in these courses – language is not a barrier to receiving an education at Waseda University.

That was something I personally found very interesting. Honestly, I would never have expected a Japanese University to have degree programmes conducted entirely in English, so this particular bit of information was intriguing.

Studying in Japan was also something that never crossed my mind, seeing as the number of Japanese words and phrases I know can be counted using the fingers on one hand. The fact that such a programme exists shows that Waseda University is truly opening its doors to students from all over the world, and diversifying its student population. This is great, as students will gain fresh perspectives from interacting with others from all over the globe.

After learning more about the English-language degree programmes, Waseda University is now on my list of potential universities. Even if I do not enrol in Waseda, I would not mind spending a semester, or maybe even a year, in Waseda University as part of an exchange programme.  

In my opinion, Waseda is making a step in the right direction by offering the English-language degree programme for foreign students - our world is becoming an increasingly interconnected and globalized one, and this is an example of how universities are adapting to our ever-changing world. 

I’ll be sharing more on the English-language degree programmes at Waseda University, particularly the School of Political Science and Economics’ EDESSA, at a later date. What does EDESSA stand for? Stay tuned to find out!

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