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About YU
Welcome to Yamagata University, Japan!
A major comprehensive national teaching and research university in northeastern Japan, Yamagata University enrolls about 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students at its thirteen academic divisions on its four college campuses spread throughout the Yamagata region. YU offers programs in the fields of agriculture, arts and humanities, education, engineering, medicine, natural science, nursing, and social sciences.
Campuses and Surrounding Areas
Each of the YU's four college campuses is based in a mid-size city surrounded by mountains and waters and has some distinctive regional features, making teaching/learning and research at YU unique. The Kojirakawa campus (Humanities, Education, Social Sciences & Natural Sciences) and the Iida Campus (Medicine & Nursing) are both located in the City of Yamagata, the prefectural capital. The city of 250,000 is completely surrounded by mountains including Mt. Zao, a world-class ski area. Down south, the Yonezawa campus (Engineering) is in the City of Yonezawa, a castle town sitting on the foot of the Wagatsuma Mountains where the Mogami River, one of the major rivers in Japan, originates. The city is well known for the former feudal clans Uesugi and Date. The Tsuruoka campus (Agriculture) sits in the City of Tsuruoka on the Shonai plain. The city faces the Sea of Japan and overlooks Mt. Choukaisan and Gassan, two of the 100 greatest mountains in the nation. The Academy award-winning film “Departures” (Okuribito) was shot in the Shonai area, one of the four administrative divisions of the Yamagata prefecture. The Mogami area campus, our fifth one, is a long-awaited, welcome addition to the current YU campus network. This outreach campus was launched in the depopulated area of northern Yamagata in 2005 in response to its residents’ wish to have the opportunity to receive higher education in the Mogami area.
Commitment to General Education
The purpose of general education at YU is to have students expand their views, think critically, and make sound judgments as well as to acquire fundamental academic skills necessary for advanced study. There are 750 fundamental courses and seminars for the students with any major to choose from in all academic disciplines each year. These university-wide general education courses are taught by faculty members from all academic divisions. In addition, with the increasing importance of the English language in both the work place and academic field around the world, all freshmen are required to take the TOEIC®IP test twice a year whereas the university administers the TOEFL®ITP test every year for those who are interested in study abroad or academic English.
History of Yamagata University
Since its foundation as a Normal School in 1878, Yamagata University has grown to become a doctoral-granting, comprehensive public institution through two stages before and after 1949 when the new Government regulation in higher education came into effect.
Before 1949
| 1878 | Yamagata Prefectural Normal School (YPNS) including its elementary school opened. |
| 1886 | YPNS was renamed Yamagata Prefectural Junior Normal School (YPJNS). |
| 1898 | YPJNS was renamed Yamagata Prefectural Normal School (YPNS). |
| 1902 | Yamagata Prefectural Women’s Normal School (YPWNS) opened. |
| 1910 | Yonezawa Higher Technical School (YHTS) opened. |
| 1920 | Yamagata High School (YHS) opened (and later became Faculty of Literature and Science). |
| 1922 | Yamagata Prefectural Technical Continuation School Teacher Training Center (YPTCS- TTC) opened. |
| 1935 | YPTCS-TTC was renamed Teacher Training Center at Yamagata Prefectural Young Men’s School (YPYMS-TTC). |
| 1943 | YPNS and YPWNS merged into Yamagata Normal School (YNS). |
| 1944 | YPYMS -TTC was renamed Yamagata Youth
Normal School (YYNS). YHTS was renamed Yonezawa Engineering College. |
| 1947 | Yamagata Prefectural College of Agriculture and Forestry (YPCAF) and YNS junior high school opened. |
| 1949 | YHS, YNS, YYNS and YPAFC merged and became Yamagata University. |
After 1949
| 1949 | YU started with four Faculties: Faculty of Literature and Science, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Agriculture. |
| 1954 | Junior College of Engineering opened. |
| 1964 | Graduate School of Engineering opened. |
| 1967 | Faculty of Literature & Social Sciences, Faculty of Science, and Division of General Education opened. |
| 1970 | Graduate School of Agriculture opened. |
| 1971 | Faculty of Literature and Science closed. |
| 1973 | Faculty of Medicine opened. |
| 1975 | Special Needs School opened. |
| 1979 | Graduate School of Science opened. Graduate School of Medical Science opened. |
| 1985 | Junior College of Engineering closed. |
| 1990 | United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences opened. |
| 1993 | Graduate School of Education opened. |
| 1996 | Division of General Education closed. |
| 1997 | Graduate School of Social & Cultural Systems opened. |
| 1999 | Graduate School of Engineering and Graduate School of Science merged and was renamed Graduate School of Science and Engineering. |
| 2005 | Faculty of Education was renamed Faculty of Education, Art and Science. |
| 2009 | Graduate School of Teacher Training and Graduate School of Regional Education and Culture opened. |