The Graduate School of International Studies (GIS) and the Faculty/Undergraduate School of International Studies (FIS), Utsunomiya University, is the first and sole school in this field at a Japanese national university. Established in the post-cold war era, the mission of the GIS/FIS is to foster students who actively work to cope with global challenges and contribute, at a grass-roots level, to “building a peaceful and diversified global society” in the 21st century, which is expressed in our school motto,Chikyu-shakai Keisei; Chikyu-bunka Keisei.

As contemporary human societies and cultures are rapidly being internationalized and globalized, friction is mounting among different states and nations, and among different social and cultural systems. Human societies are confronted with such global issues as environmental destruction, widening disparities between the rich and the poor, intercultural conflict and ethnic strife. To meet the challenges of these impending and complicated issues, GIS and FIS seek to establish a comprehensive, interdisciplinary methodology of international studies, linking social and human sciences organically. It is our belief that international affairs education, a very comprehensive and interdisciplinary field, should comprise both social and cultural studies.