Hitotsubashi University

Hitotsubashi University (hereinafter “the University”) celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2025.

Since its founding, the University has worked to cultivate globally competent individuals and to

establish and advance practical knowledge in the social sciences. Upholding this proud history and

tradition, the University is now committed to taking the lead in reforming the social sciences in

Japan and becoming an international hub for world-class social science research and education. Its

aim is to develop global leaders to reform society through action and to generate the knowledge and

social innovations needed to establish social and economic systems for a resilient world.

As an institution dedicated to the various disciplines of the social sciences, the University’s

characteristics differ from those of both comprehensive universities, which encompass the natural

sciences, life sciences, humanities and social sciences, and single-discipline institutions specializing

in particular fields such as medicine. Globally, there are several universities that have similarly

leveraged the features and strengths of their focus on the social sciences to establish a distinctive

presence. Prominent examples include the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),

Sciences Po, and Singapore Management University (SMU). Hitotsubashi University is now aiming

to develop competitive strengths in education and research that are equal to or surpass the world’s

top institutions across seven strategic priority areas: Economics, Management, Accounting &

Finance, Politics & International Studies, Psychology, Data Science, and Global Law. By doing so,

the University seeks to become a diversified and highly attractive hub for social science education

and research where large-scale international joint research projects in the social sciences are

conducted at the highest global standards; where outstanding faculty members and students gather

from across the world; and where top-class young researchers build multitiered international

networks. The University will also tackle the most pressing problems confronting our planet and

human society, promote cocreation between the humanities and sciences and contribute to the

generation and utilization of “knowledge convergence,” share the outcomes thereof with the broader

society, and build its social reputation. Through this positive cycle, it will increasingly develop into a

more advanced research and education hub.

As a Designated National University in the social sciences, the University will present a model for

the global advancement of the Japanese social sciences, playing a leading role in significantly raising

the standards of the social sciences throughout Japan. Moreover, to achieve its institutional ideals

while leveraging the distinctive features of its various fields of research and education, the

University will harness the nimbleness of its small and smart organization to take a unified approach

to strengthen international competitiveness and promote structural reform, with the entire

organization working together in the same direction, at the same level, and at the same pace. Specific

initiatives will include the promotion of greater diversity (internationalization and diversification of

personnel) under the strong leadership of the University President, the pursuit of a personnel strategy

focused on accelerating the integration of the humanities and sciences from the standpoint of the

social sciences that draws on the University’s strengths in empirical research and its unique data

infrastructure, and the functional strengthening of the Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study

(HIAS), a university-wide research organization.

1.To build on the University’s strengths and features to pursue contributions to global welfare,

which is the University’s mission, redefine the University’s basic objectives as a Designated

National University corporation, and accelerate initiatives toward raising international

competitiveness in research and education.

Hitotsubashi University’s mission is to contribute to global welfare: “to create intellectual and

cultural property which will contribute to the building of free and peaceful political and economic

societies in Japan and the world and to train those who will assume positions of leadership”

(Hitotsubashi University Mission Statement). We strive to advance reforms for a better society by

generating knowledge that yields social benefits and fosters leaders capable of executing the reforms;

we do these things not only within Japan but also with a global outlook. This is the mission of

Hitotsubashi University.

Our particular strengths are in empirical research utilizing the University’s substantial data

infrastructure, and thorough, attentive education based on small-group seminar classes. All the

projects conducted at Hitotsubashi University under the 21st Century COE and Global COE

programs (3 and 2 projects, respectively) were research endeavors closely attuned to social realities,

characterized especially by the collection and analysis of unique data sets and the production of

original empirical insights grounded in theory. The observation of societies undergoing dramatic

change and the generation of knowledge to serve social innovation is characteristic of research at

Hitotsubashi University. Moreover, in the course of developing data infrastructure and pursuing

empirical research, the University cultivates graduate students through on-the-job training (OJT)

programs. In this way, we are engaged in distinctive processes of both knowledge creation and

research talent development utilizing data infrastructure.

The University has also been developing a track record in the training of professionals for

practical roles in society. We will maintain the University’s position as a center for high-quality

education in which cutting-edge empirical research is fed back into educational practice, both at the

undergraduate level, as has been the case traditionally, and in professional education at the master’s

level. The small-group seminar model has not only been successful in undergraduate education, but

is also pursued in master’s-level professional education. In programs such as those offered by the

Law School, whose cumulative pass rates for the Bar Examination are the highest in Japan, and the

Business School and School of International and Public Policy, which place emphasis on workshops

and other small-group, seminar-style formats, talented researchers provide each student with a

thorough and theoretically rigorous education. From an international perspective, there is ample

scope for the deployment of this distinctive educational method to enhance Hitotsubashi’s

international competitiveness. Strengths of this type shall be preserved as cornerstones of the

University’s education, which must not be lost in the pursuit of future reforms.

Over the next ten years, Hitotsubashi University will build on these strengths to achieve

substantial improvements in the international competitiveness of social science research and

education. Strategic Priority Areas will be selected and synergies generated between newly appointed

and existing members of academic staff, leading to a dramatic acceleration in research and

educational competitiveness internationally.

2. The University’s strategic scenarios for reform

The University will strengthen its governance and financial base to support reform, with a focus

on building research capability and applying research findings to education and wider society. In

doing so, it will prioritize areas where the resolution of the social issues and the establishment of an

international track record can both be achieved, in turn enhancing the University’s presence

internationally in a positive cycle. The following strategic scenarios for reform will be pursued to

realize these objectives.

[1] Selection and concentration to bolster research capability

[2] Establishment of a world-class research workforce

　(a) Net increase of 60 faculty positions

　(b) Utilization of retiree replacements

　(c) Synergic effects of interdisciplinary research structure

[3] Reinvestment of research outcomes in society and education

[4] Strengthening of the financial base and establishment of a virtuous cycle

[5] Strengthening of the university governance

[6] Enhancement of diverse educational and research areas

[7] Impacts on other social science universities/faculties in Japan

Hitotsubashi University, under the President’s strong leadership, will accelerate rigorously its

structural and management reform efforts in areas including intensive personnel strategy to drive

diversity (internationalization and diversification) and integration of the humanities and sciences,

functional strengthening of the Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study and other research

organizations, resource allocation to maximize faculty education and research capabilities, and

improvement of the financial base through pursuit of co-creation projects with society. These reforms

will be carried out during the fourth medium-term goals period. The University will also achieve

positive collaborative cycles in both research and education with the international community and

local society, harnessing two key driving forces: research internationalization and contribution to

social solutions, and educational internationalization to cultivate professionals equipped with

advanced knowledge and skills.

The achievement of the vision and strategies detailed above will enable the University to grow

into a hub for world-class social science research and education that fosters global leaders to reform

society in practice and generates knowledge toward the establishment of social systems for a resilient

world, providing a bridge to realization of a sustainable future.