Address: 7-1, Kioicho,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 東京千代田区紀尾井町7 －1
The conference reports will be scheduled in the meeting
room in the university
Sophia University is considered one of the top private
research universities in Japan. According to the Times
Higher Education, Sophia has the 20th place in its 2020
Japan University Rankings and is the top 4th private
university in the country. Founded by the Roman Catholic
religious order of the Society of Jesus in 1913, the
University has grown from its 3 original academic
departments of Philosophy, German Literature, and
Commerce to 9 undergraduate Faculties and 10 Graduate
Schools, with over 13,900 students in total. Ever since
Sophia was established, the University has been a leader
in the internationalisation of Japanese universities. It
had been conducting classes both in English and
Japanese, and welcoming students from abroad from China,
Korea, and even from Europe. Soon afterward, Sophia
gained national repute as the leading institution in
globalisation, foreign languages, and literature in
Japan. As a prominent institution for research and
higher learning in the fields of the social sciences,
humanities, and natural sciences, the University has
been selected by the Japanese Ministry of Education to
be one of 37 universities to receive funding for its
internationalisation efforts through the "Top Global
University Project". Today, Sophia has international
students from 77 countries. It also has forged
agreements with 298 overseas universities in 59
countries. It also possesses student exchange programs
with several other top universities throughout the
world, including Georgetown University, Yale University,
The University of Georgia, Sogang University, Hong Kong
University, and the University of Cologne. Before 1957,
the university only admitted male students to degree
programs, but the numbers of male and female students
are now more or less equal. Sophia’s alumni are referred
to as "Sophians"; they include the 79th Prime Minister
of Japan, Morihiro Hosokawa, several politicians
represented in the National Diet of Japan, and
professors at various institutions.