Undergraduate Program
The original entity of the School of Business Administration was established in 1902 and is the second oldest business school in Japan, establishing over the years a sound reputation in both academic and business circles. The curriculum is divided into three areas: management, accounting, and commerce. Our mission is to cultivate young leaders whose practical knowledge and firm discipline in the social sciences will equip them to excel in both business and professional communities. In collaboration with the graduate school, we also aim to develop leaders in the area of academic or scholarly work.
PhD Program
For advanced scholarship, much special training is required. Kobe University is one of the few established Graduate Schools of Business Administration in Japan. The Ph.D. is awarded to those who complete five years of course work while maintaining an excellent record, pass examinations, and produce a doctoral thesis of a high standard. In their first two years at the graduate school, students study nine core courses and three methodological sciences in order to develop research skills. In the last three years, students concentrate on writing papers, keeping in close contact and engaging in frequent discussion with a dissertation committee.
MBA Program
In 1989, with the goal of serving the needs of the industrial community, Kobe University founded the graduate school for practicing managers and professionals, the first establishment of its kind in Japan among government-owned universities. Prior to the school’s establishment, we organized a series of meetings attended by Human Resource Managers from diverse companies, together with selected members of our faculty, to devise a prototype for a new and innovative graduate school. Keenly aware that MBA students from the “real” business world tend to have diverse work experiences and a perspective rather different from those with no practical work experience, we designed a Kobe Style business school based on a “Project System” for our MBA candidates, whereby students who share similar interests regarding various aspects of business form a group and seek to resolve problems through joint study. Core faculty members assume the role of both offering coursework and facilitating the process of group efforts. Our overall purpose may be summed up in our program’s name—Management Theory in Practice (MTP)—and in the original stated mission of Kobe University, “the fusion of academic insight and reality in practice.” It is this combination of the academic and the practical—how the understanding of theory might be used to improve society—that forms the firm foundation upon which our program stands.
| Division | Areas |
|---|---|
| Management Theory in Practice(MTP) | Business Policy |
| Management and Organization | |
| Innovative Business System | |
| Technology and Operation Management |
