Ritsumeikan University took home top honors in the Western Japan Graduate School Division of the 2020 Japan Ryugaku Awards. It also won prizes in the categories of Western Japan Private University Science Program and Western Japan Private University Literature Program.

The Japan Ryugaku Awards were established by the Academic Research Conference on Japanese Language Schools of the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education for the purpose of putting infrastructure in place for the intake of international students. Every year Japanese language school faculty and staff from around Japan cast their votes on the undergraduate and graduate programs they would recommend to the international students in their schools and present the winners with awards. Schools are awarded prizes based on the number of votes they receive, and the schools that garner the most votes take home the grand prizes in each category.

This is the fourth year that Ritsumeikan University’ graduate schools have taken home prizes following winning years in 2016, 2018, and 2019, and the third year in a row they have won a grand prize. Ritsumeikan's grand prizes were granted in recognition of its excellent educational content, student satisfaction levels, and the academic support available for international students.

Due to the pandemic, there have been many restrictions placed on students who want to study in Japan, but Ritsumeikan will continue striving to improve the quality of its education and providing international students with a wide range of support as we aim to produce talented individuals imbued with global citizenship.

Comment from Ryoji Nakagawa, Dean of International Affairs
I am very honored that Ritsumeikan took home the grand prize in the Graduate School Division and prizes in the Western Japan Private University Science Program and Western Japan Private University Literature Program categories of the Japan Ryugaku Awards. Amid the pandemic, many of our international students have faced uncertainty in their daily lives. We will continue working hard to provide them with individualized support and to enhance our learning and research environments.