Dokkyo University is a private institution in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, around 30 miles from Tokyo.
Dokkyo University has distinctive roots, which at different times have been both an asset and a drawback. Starting as the Vereine fur Deutsche Wissenschaft or German Studies School in 1883, it found its German associations were highly advantageous between the wars, but became a problem from 1945 when it became a boys high school.
Its renaissance began in 1964 when former education minister Amano Teiyu was funded by the school and local government to form a university, whose first lectures were held in the autumn of that year.
Today it talks to students of the advantages of a single campus within easy reach of Tokyo, with the aim of producing "educated persons with a global perspective who are equipped with specialties in their field of study".
The emphasis on languages remains strong. A Foreign Languages Research Centre started in 1981 and the Graduate School for Languages was established in 1986.
In 2017 the Faculty of Languages accounted for around a third of the total student intake – with some of the more popular courses being German, English, French and tourism and transnational studies.
Economics, management science and the economics of sustainability degree was introduced in 2013.
A review by the Japanese Association for Universities Accreditation in 2014 found strength in student support such as extracurricular courses to help students learn languages in their spare time and during holidays in an educational environment. Feedback was put together through an annual student questionnaire.
