, abbreviated as or , is a private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becoming one of the first private universities in the country.
Keio University is also one of the member universities of RU11 and APRU, and it is one of two Japanese universities (alongside the University of Tokyo) to be a member of the World Economic Forum's Global University Leaders Forum.
Overview
Keio traces its history to 1858 when Fukuzawa Yukichi started to teach Dutch while he was a guest of the Okudaira family. In 1868 he changed the name of the school to Keio Gijuku and devoted his time to education. While Keio's initial identity was that of a private school of Western studies, it expanded and established its first university faculty in 1890.
Keio has approximately 30 Research Centres located on its five main campuses and at other facilities for advanced research in Japan. Keio University Research Institute at SFC (KRIS) has joined the MIT and the French INRIA in hosting the international W3C.
History was first established in 1858 as a School of Western studies located in one of the mansion houses at Tsukiji by founder Fukuzawa Yukichi. "" was the original name of Keio University. Keio University's root is considered to be the Han school for Kokugaku studies, named Shinshu Kan established in 1796. It later changed its name to "Keio Gijuku" in 1868, which originated from the era name "Keio",1868 is 4th year of Keio with "Gijuku" as the translation of Private school. It moved to its current location in 1871, established a Medical school in 1873, along with the university department of Economics, Law and Literacy studies in 1890.
Year University Development 1858 Establishment a school for Dutch studies 1863 Switched its focus to English studies 1868 Renamed to Keio Gijuku 1871 Moved to Mita 1879 Keio sought financial support from the government but failed. Instead, it became a vocational school funded by daimyōs including Shimazu clan. 1890 Departments of Economics, Law, and Letters established 1906 Graduate studies programs established 1917 School of Medicine established 1920 Keio authorized as a university, hence gaining the authority to confer degrees 1934 Hiyoshi Campus opened 1944 School of Technology established 1949 Keio authorized as a university in the post-war system 1957 School of Business and Commerce established 1962 Graduate School of Business Administration established 1981 Department of Science and Technology established 1990 School of Environmental and Information Studies and School of Policy Management established 2001 School of Nursing and Medical Care established 2004 School of Law established 2008 School of Pharmacy established 2008 Graduate School of Media Design established 2016 Tonomachi Town Campus opened 2021 Fukuzawa Yukichi Memorial Keio History Museum established
In 1899, Keio sent six students to study abroad. In the same year, it also accepted three international students from India, Qing-dynasty China, and Siam. Eight international students entered from Taiwan (which had technically been a territory of the Japanese Empire since 1895) the following year. In 1946, Keio University began accepting female students.
In 1916, Keio was visited by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Another visit in 1922 included physicist Albert Einstein, who presented a special lecture on the theory of relativity. In 2008, Keio University was visited by Prince Charles. In 2023, Sam Altman provided a lecture on campus.
Presidents Since the president system was established in 1881, Keio University has had 20 presidents.
List of presidents of Keio Gijuku No. President Tenure 1 1881–1887 2 1887–1890 3 1890–1897 4 Eikichi Kamata 1898–1922 5 1922–1923 6 1923–1933 7 1933–1947 8 1946–1947 9 1947–1956 10 1956–1960 11 1960–1965 12 1965–1969 13 1969–1973 14 1973–1977 15 1977–1993 16 1993–2001 17 2001–2009 18 2009–2017 19 2017–2021 20 Kohei Itoh 2021–Present
Student body
In 2021, there were 33,469 students at Keio University, with 28,667 undergraduate students and 4,802 graduate students. Although two-thirds of the student body are males, the gender ratio differs between different majors (e.g. 56% of students are female in the Faculty of Letters, whereas in the School of Medicine, three-quarters of students are men.). + Demographics of student body in 2021 Undergraduate Graduate (Master) Graduate (Doctor) Professional Total Total 28,667 3,034 1,408 360 33,469 Male 18,346 2,044 985 228 21,603 Female 10,321 990 423 132 11,866 International 874 861 1,735 There were 1,908 international students on May 1, 2021, with 874 undergraduate students (3.1% of total undergraduate students (=28,667)), 861 graduate students (18.0% of total graduate students (=4,802) ) and 173 other students. China provided the most international students with 1,016, followed by South Korea (436), France (66), Taiwan (51), the United States (36), Indonesia (34), and Germany (29).
Student life
Societies In Japanese universities, student societies are known as "circles". There are over 410 circles at Keio University by estimate, including both official and unofficial circles.
Athletics The interest of Keio's students in baseball stretches back to the early years of the 20th century. In 1913, an American touring team of players from the New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox played an exhibition game against the Keio team. In a 1932 exhibition game, the Keio team beat the University of Michigan team, which was then touring Japan. Keio's baseball team plays in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League.
Kei-So rivalry
Traditionally, there has been a strong rivalry between Keio and Waseda University. There are annually many matches between the two universities in several sports, such as baseball, rowing, rugby, lacrosse, track and field, American football, association football, aikido, karate, basketball, tennis, swimming, fencing, figure skating, ice hockey, and field hockey. These games are called "Kei–So Sen (慶早戦)" or, more generally, "So–Kei Sen (早慶戦)".
The Kei-So baseball rivalry, which has existed for over a century, holds a notable place in the history of Japanese baseball. A game played on October 16, 1943, is particularly well known and was later depicted in the 2008 film The Last Game – the Final So-Kei Sen.
American football
Scandals In October 2016, six male students from Keio Advertisement Society, a long-standing student club known for its organisation of the Miss Keio pageant contest, were investigated for gang rape during a club activity. An out-of-court settlement was reached and the students were not prosecuted. In May 2018, another three students were arrested for sexual assaults.
In March 2017, a student tennis club was disbanded after a student died of alcohol poisoning during a club activity. Two other Keio students died due to over-drinking in 2012 and 2013.
In June 2017, the school's election committee unconventionally selected Haseyama Akira, a legal history professor who won second place at the general election among teachers and staff, to be the school's new president, breaking a 50-year convention.
In late 2019, both the American football team and the cheerleading club suspended club activities for "inappropriate behaviours".
In January 2020, it was reported that a former member of the school president's secretarial staff had installed a camera in a female toilet stall on the Mita campus, filming over a thousand videos over 3 months.
Academic rankings and reputation
In 2017 Keio ranked 53rd in the world in the Times Higher Education's Alma Mater Index. In 2014 it ranked 34th globally in the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) and 3rd in Asia. In 2016 Keio ranked at 58th of the Reuters Top 100 innovative universities worldwide. British Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) company estimates that Keio is ranked the 192nd in QS World University Rankings 2017/18. It is ranked the 45th in QS World University Ranking 2017/18 for Graduate Employability Ranking. In the Asian University Ranking (2015), Quacquarelli Symonds also ranked Keio as 37th in Asia. The Academic Ranking of World Universities (2015), which is compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ranks Keio 151-175 in the world and 37 in Asia.
Research performance According to Thomson Reuters, Keio is the 10th best research university in Japan, the only private university within the Top 15. Keio has provided 3 presidents of Japanese Economic Association in its 42-year history, and this number is 5th largest.
Business Keio University ranks second in Japan, for the number of alumni holding CEO positions in Fortune Global 500 companies, according to Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking of World Universities.
Keio Business School (KBS) is Japan's first business school and one of four Japanese institutions holding The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation. Eduniversal also ranked Keio as the No.1 in Japan (75th in the world). In Eduniversal Keio is one of 3 Japanese schools categorized in "Universal Business schools with major international influence". In 2012, the Keio Business School became a founding member of the university alliance Council on Business & Society.
Medicine There have been four presidents of Japan Medical Association related to this university (two alumni and two professors).Kitasato Shibasaburō, Taichi Kitajima, Taro Takemi and Toshiro Murase This number is the 2nd largest among Japanese medical schools. Keio is one of 2 Japanese universities which provided a president for the World Medical Association.
Law In 2010 and 2015, Keio University Law School ranked highest among all Japanese universities for the Bar Exam passage rate.2010年(平成22年)新司法試験法科大学院別合格率ランキング -法科大学院seek. Laws.shikakuseek.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-17. The number of Members in Parliament who graduated from Keio is the 3rd highest in Japan."University rankings 2011" The Asahi Shimbun
Popularity and selectivity Nikkei BP has been publishing a ranking system called "Brand rankings of Japanese universities" every year, composed of various indicators relating to the reputation and brand power of Japanese institutions. Keio University was placed 1st in 2014, and ranked 2nd in 2015 and 2016 in the Greater Tokyo Area. Webometrics (2008) also ranks Keio University as 3rd in Japan, 11th in Asia, and 208th in the world for quantity and quality of web presence and link visibility.
Evaluation from Business World + The university ranking according to the order of the evaluation by Personnel Departments of Leading Companies in Japan Ranking Japan 15th (out of 781 universities in Japan as of 2020) Source 2020 Nikkei Survey to all listed (3,714) and leading unlisted (1,100), totally 4,814 companies
Finance + Operating revenues/expenses in 2010 Revenues (yen in millions) ratio Expenses (yen in millions) ratio Tuition and fees 49,204 24.97% Compensation and benefits 65,270 33.12% Investment return 4,170 2.12% Education & Research 52,148 26.46% Capital gain 20,817 10.56% Investment 32,923 16.71% National appropriation/Grants (Direct) 17,082 8.67% Repayment of debt 13,236 6.72% Medical care 48,274 24.50% Debt loan 11,680 5.93% Endowments 5,475 2.78% Total 197,061 100.00% Total 197,061 100.00%
According to Keio's financial report, there was an operating revenue of 197 billion yen in 2010. The top three largest incomes were from "tuition and fees", "medical care" and "capital gain", with 49 billion yen, 48 billion yen and 21 billion yen respectively. The number of endowments in 2010 was about 5 billion yen. Keio is known for having one of the largest financial endowments of any Japanese university.e.g. Keio was top in 2007 and 2008 in terms of the number of endowments.