About Doshisha University:
Doshisha Academy, the predecessor of
Doshisha University
(同志社大学 Dōshisha daigaku ) was founded in 1875 by Niijima Jō, a former samurai. Niijima Jō, also known as Joseph Hardy Neesima, who traveled abroad to Boston, Massachusetts, where he was baptized and attended Phillips Academy, Amherst College, and Andover Theological Seminary. After 10 years in the United States, Joseph went back to Japan, and established Doshisha Academy,
Doshisha Eigakko.
Today, Doshisha University provides a broad liberal arts curriculum as well as studies in business and the sciences. Doshisha University has become one of the most prestigious private educational institutions in Japan, with 12 specialties including Theology, Letters, Social Studies, Law, Economics, Commerce, Policy Studies, Culture and Information Science, Science and Engineering, Life and Medical Sciences, and Health and Sports Science, and it has 15 graduate schools on three campuses, in Kyoto at the Imadegawa Campus and Kyotanabe Campus, and at the Gakkentoshi Campus in Kansai Science City.
Amherst College has had close relationship with Doshisha since its founding. They are considered sister schools. There has been a long running student and faculty exchange program between 2 schools, headquartered at Amherst House on the Imadegawa Campus, which is also the headquarters for the Associated Kyoto Program (AKP). Doshisha is also now the home of the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS). AKP and KCJS offer competitive study abroad programs for undergraduates who are studying Japanese language and culture.
