Kiyoko Sueda, Dean of the Graduate School of International Politics, Economics and Communication

　The Graduate School of International Politics, Economics, and Communication was founded in 1986 as an “open graduate school” for learning about international politics, economics, and communication. Typically, some alumni of this graduate school go on to take teaching positions at universities, while others put their learning to use in the workplace as more advanced professional experts who have organized their many years of work experience in a more academic way, and still others continue to conduct research as part of their life’s work. With classes held both during the day and at night, our doors are wide open for working adults as well as foreign exchange students.
　There are three principal features of this graduate school. First, the curriculum is designed and implemented to allow students to learn about international politics, economics, and communication independently, while also allowing them opportunities to enhance their learning within all three areas in an integrated and organic way. The second feature is that we offer lectures not only from researchers, but also from professionals with practical experience, those who work at the front lines of workplaces such as international organizations and public agencies. We also offer intensive courses by celebrated researchers from overseas. The third feature is a complete array of course subjects that aim not only to offer profound expert knowledge for research, but also provide resources on research methods and procedures.
　With the development of information technology and machine translation, we can now easily exchange thoughts online with anyone in the world. However, global society has a variety of issues, including poverty, regional conflicts, international terrorism, international financial instability, global destruction of the environment, religious conflicts, and pandemics.
　This graduate school aims to provide many people with a space to research and to create new knowledge about international politics, economics, and communication through the diligent study undertaken together by the people who gather here. We hope that many different people who want to engage in research to solve the problems facing global society will join us to participate in learning at the SIPEC graduate school.