Characteristics of the school

What is the difference between the School of Regional Development Studies and other national university faculties featuring regional studies?

- Some national universities already have a faculty whose name may include ‘regional studies’, but most of them resulted from the restructuring of existing organizations such as faculties of education; therefore, their objectives or content are not always so focused.
On the other hand, the School of Regional Development Studies at Kanazawa University goes beyond the traditional boundaries of study disciplines, and does not align itself with existing faculties. Teaching staff members from many different areas came together to establish this new school. Therefore, it can be said that our school is the first fully-fledged faculty dedicated to ‘regional development studies’ in the whole of Japan. 

How is it different from the other schools of the College of Human and Social Studies?

-In disciplines such as Law, Economics and Literature, the focus is on one academic subject which is studied in depth within the traditional division. The Schools of Law, Economics and Humanities of the College of Human and Social Studies work in this way.
However, the School of Regional Development Studies does not limit itself to one academic field but rather deals with a broad range of fields relating to humanity and society. We work on various problems of contemporary society in a holistic and practical way and aim to apply our studies directly to the real world.

The fixed number of students for admission and the entrance examination

Tell me about the fixed number of students you admit and how you recruit students?

-The fixed number of students we admit for the school is 80, of whom we recruit 60 by the general entrance examination and 20 upon recommendation.
The general applicants are recruited by the school as a whole and the recommended applicants are recruited by each course.

Which subjects are part of the entrance examination for general applicants?

-Firstly, all general applicants are required to take the annual nationwide test administered by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations in January. General applicants at first-stage recruitment, who will be considered for the first-stage availability of 50 places, will take our academic skills examination, where two subjects can be chosen out of Japanese, Mathematics and Foreign Languages. The remaining 10 places for general applicants are considered from the second-stage recruitment pool. For this we administer an essay writing examination, in addition to requiring national examination results in two subjects of the applicant’s choice.

Do you examine recommended applicants by essay or interview?

-Applicants on recommendation are recruited by each of our courses separately. A fixed number of 4 students will be admitted to each of the “Regional Planning Course”, “Welfare Management Course” and “Environmental Coexistence Course”. Applicants for these are not required to take the national examination, but are instead required to gain entry by essay-writing and interview. The “Health and Sports Science Course” has a fixed number of 8 students for admission. Applicants for this course need to submit the results of the national examination and also take an essay-writing test and interview. In addition, we take their performance in sporting activities into consideration.

Please remember that this is a rough outline for 2010 entry. Refer to “Admission Procedure” and “Application Guidelines” to check more detailed and up-to-date information. Also click here for more information we offer.

Course selection and enrollment

How are students divided into the four courses?

-Students will be enrolled in one of the four courses from the first semester of Year 2 onwards. Prior to that, we take a survey around December to ask Year 1 students which course they want to proceed to and determine the course for each student.
In order to satisfy as many students’ requests as possible and help select the course best suited to each student, we set up a capacity large enough to accept a total of 130 potential students over the four courses (40 for “Regional Planning Course”, 30 for each of the other three courses) against the fixed number for admission, 80.

Course Title	Max admission allowance	Fixed number for admission
		General applicants	Applicants on recommendation
Regional Planning	40	60	4
Welfare Management	30		4
Environmental Coexistence	30		4
Health and Sport Science	30		8
Total	130	80

As for the students who entered in April 2008, our first students of the School of Regional Development Studies, all of them successfully proceeded to the course they wanted at the start of Year 2. Pease note that students who are admitted via application upon recommendation are automatically enrolled in the course they choose to apply for. They cannot change the course after admission.

I am interested in more than one course.

-The course you join when you proceed to Year 2 is your main course; in other words, you can still take some subjects in other courses. If you have acquired 20 credits from the designated subjects of another course, that course can be certified as your minor. As you can see, by combining two courses as your major and minor, you will be able to find your own direction of study, both in scope and depth. Furthermore, choosing such an interdisciplinary approach can be appealing to potential employers.