Dokkyo University

For over 130 years since the foundation of the Doitsu-gaku Kyokai (German Association), Dokkyo University has kept an unbroken and living history of foreign language education and international exchange that can rival any on the world stage.
The Doitsu-gaku Kyokai (German Association), which was the predecessor to Dokkyo University, was founded in 1883, when Japan had just started to move toward internationalization under the phrase of &civilization and enlightenment,&with the principle of nurturing internationally-minded people through learning the language and culture of Germany. It was led by people who left great marks during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), including Chairperson Yajiro Shinagawa and the first Principal of the university, Amane Nishi. The following year, he established a vocational school which added the specialized subjects of law and politics to the 5-year junior high school. Since then, it has produced many excellent human resources—mainly in the medical world—as the only junior high school which teaches German. Then, in 1964, the year of the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the educational institute, Dokkyo University was established with Amano Teiyu as the first President. Based upon the spirit of German educational doctrines, it has placed importance on smaller groups—as typified by seminar instruction—creating many opportunities for interaction between teaching staff and students. This tradition and history of foreign language learning and international exchange is still alive and being passed on today, over 120 years later.