Kyoto University admission policy

Undergraduate degree programs

Founded in Kyoto, the cradle of Japanese culture and academic endeavor, Kyoto University is a national comprehensive university that has launched countless successful careers across many fields of endeavor. Today, in the 21st century, the university is still engaged in education and research while maintaining "academic freedom" and traditions fostered ever since the university's founding more than a century ago.

Kyoto University's Mission Statement in the field of education is "independent and interactive learning." Our education system is designed to enable students to acquire advanced knowledge and skills from their instructors, but at the same time to cultivate students' capacity to improve themselves through interaction with those around them and to deepen their scholarly expertise autonomously. We believe that it is the insights gained through one's own efforts that provide the driving force for new advancements in scholarship. For this reason, we expect our students to interact with the many faculty and staff members and other local and international students gathered at the university, taking the initiative to study and explore a broad range of issues and developing a capacity to formulate ways of addressing those issues. The university will offer strong support for students' efforts in this regard. In order to implement education that imparts superior scholarly knowledge and fosters creative spirit in accordance with the above principles, we seek to enroll students with the independent initiative to pursue challenges pro-actively.

Kyoto University is known throughout the world for its high-standard and original research achievements. One thing these achievements have in common is that they originated with free thinking, founded on a diversity of worldviews and conceptions of humanity and nature. They also sustain and/or extend fundamental disciplinary knowledge. Outstanding research is always underpinned by solid basic scholarship.

Those seeking admission to Kyoto University are required to possess the following three types of basic academic ability.

  1. Comprehensive and analytical ability, cultivated through curricular study in senior high school;
  2. Ability to apply the knowledge acquired through curricular study in senior high school;
  3. Communicative ability, including practical foreign language proficiency.

It is only when equipped with these basic academic abilities that students are able to become more sophisticated learners, mobilizing their own free thinking through education to promote "independent learning" as expressed in the university's Mission Statement.

Kyoto University prescribes the academic subjects used in the selection of candidates for admission in accordance with the ideas and educational objectives of each of its faculties. The university openly welcomes candidates, from both within and outside Japan, equipped with the requisite fundamental academic ability, an appreciation of the academic culture and ideals of Kyoto University, and the capacity to apply themselves to their studies enthusiastically and independently.

Graduate school programs

Under the "academic freedom" that has prevailed ever since its founding, Kyoto University has pursued research of the highest global standard, and worked to cultivate outstanding researchers and high-level professionals. The university's graduate schools aim to build on this academic culture and tradition, making further efforts to promote world-class original academic research and to foster individuals for leadership roles in various parts of society. The graduate schools openly welcome applicants, from both within and outside Japan, with outstanding capabilities and a zest for academic inquiry.

Each graduate school actively pursues its own ideals and objectives for education and research. The advanced and original research outputs produced by the graduate schools are the object of attention not only from within Japan but also internationally. One thing these outputs have in common is that they are products of free-spirited research founded on a diversity of worldviews and conceptions of humanity and nature which is unique to Kyoto University, while sustaining and/or extending fundamental disciplinary knowledge. Kyoto University looks forward to welcoming candidates who appreciate the university's academic culture and traditions, are equipped with basic academic ability sufficient to identify and pursue topics independently, and are motivated to actively pursue research in their specialist fields.

Professional graduate school programs

The professional graduate schools established within Kyoto University engage in active education and research under their mission to cultivate professionals with advanced specialist knowledge and skills, while upholding the university's distinctive academic culture and traditions.

Each professional graduate school has developed a distinctive curriculum in line with its own ideals and educational policies, and offers hands-on education that connects theory with practice. The schools seek to admit a wide range of candidates with outstanding qualities. They actively welcome not only graduates of bachelor's degree programs, but also those who are already equipped with professional experience and seek to develop a higher level of specialized competence.