is a

private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grant (money ...

Inzai, Chiba 260px, Inzai City Hall is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 105,463 in 42,388 households and a population density of 850 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Inzai is loc ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, offering an undergraduate

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

degree in both Japanese and English. TCU is the only

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

university fully accredited by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).

History

Tokyo

TCU's history spans 125 years of Japan's 140-year Protestant history. The university emerged from a merger of three Christian schools. The oldest, founded in 1881 in Yokohama, focused on women's education at a time when Japan offered women few opportunities for higher education. In 1949 Tokyo Christian Theological Seminary came into existence, and 1950 saw the establishment of the Japan Domei Institute. The Domei Institute later offered both a three- and a four-year course, achieving accreditation as a

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

. These three schools merged in 1979, with the goal of upgrading the junior college into a university while maintaining the seminary as a distinct graduate program with its own identity.

Chiba

In 1989, the merged school moved from Kunitachi in the West of Tokyo to its present location in Chiba New Town, a part of the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. Having achieved the approval of the

Japanese Ministry of Education The , also known as MEXT or Monka-shō, is one of the eleven Ministries of Japan that composes part of the executive branch of the Government of Japan. Its goal is to improve the development of Japan in relation with the international community. ...

, the transition from the junior college to the university took place between 1990 and 1993. The university admitted its first group of students in 1990, when the junior college graduated its final class. In 1993, the university gained full recognition from the Japanese Ministry of Education, and it continues in this status until today. TCU is an accredited member of Asia Theological Association (ATA) and affiliated to Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).

External links

Official English website

Official Japanese website
Educational institutions established in 1966 Christian universities and colleges in Japan Private universities and colleges in Japan Christian universities and colleges Tokyo Christian University 1966 establishments in Japan Seminaries and theological colleges in Japan {{chiba-university-stub