History
Keio University (慶應義塾大学, Keiō Gijuku Daigaku?) was established in 1858 as a School of Western studies located in one of the mansion houses in Tsukiji by the founder Fukuzawa Yukichi. Its root is considered as the Han school for Kokugaku studies named Shinshu Kan established in 1796. Keio changed its name as "Keio Gijuku" in 1868, which came from the era name "Keio" and "Gijuku" as the translation of Public school. It moved to the current location in 1871, established the Medical school in 1873, and the official university department with Economics, Law and Literacy study in 1890.
Keio has been forming its structure in the following chronological order.
| Year | University development |
|---|---|
| 1858 | Keio Gijuku was established |
| 1879 | It rejected an offer to become a national university. Instead of that, it became a vocational school funded by Daimyos including Shimazu clan. |
| 1890 | University department with Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Law, and Faculty of Letters was set up |
| 1906 | Graduate school was set up |
| 1917 | School of Medicine was set up |
| 1920 | It was authorized as a university in the prewar system |
| 1944 | Faculty of Technology was set up |
| 1949 | It was authorized as a university in the post-war system |
| 1957 | Faculty of Business and Commerce was set up |
| 1962 | Graduate School of Business Administration was set up |
| 1981 | Faculty of Science and Technology (reformed from Faculty of Technology) was set up |
| 1990 | Faculty of Environment and Information Studies and Faculty of Policy Management were set up |
| 2001 | Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care was set up |
| 2004 | Law School was set up |
| 2008 | Faculty of Pharmacy was set up |
| 2008 | Graduate School of Media Design was set up |
There have been several notable things in Keio's over 150 year history as shown below.
- Keio launched Hiromoto Watanabe as a first chancellor of the Imperial University (University of Tokyo) in 1886. He is the first chancellor of the officially authorized university in Japan.
- Keio sent 6 students to abroad in 1899. In the same year, it accepted three international students from India, Qing Dynasty China, and Thailand. Eight international students entered from Taiwan (which had technically been a territory of the Japanese Empire since 1895) in the next year.
- Keio was visited by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore where he made a speech in 1916.
- Keio was visited by Albert Einstein where he presented a lecture on the special theory of relativity in 1922.
- It started to accept female students in 1946.
- A paper written by Keio undergraduate student as the first author was placed in the research journal Science in 2006, which had rarely happened to any undergraduate students.
- Keio was visited by Prince Charles in 2008.
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