MESSAGE From PRESIDENT SUNAO ONUMA

Creating New Beauty and Culture

Sunao Onuma, President

In 2011 Bunka Women’s University changed its name to Bunka Gakuen University, committing itself to a new era of growth and improvement built on 60 years of achievement.

A decade into the twenty-first century, higher education in Japan is in transition, searching for a new paradigm in the midst of profound changes. Keenly aware of these trends, we at Bunka Gakuen University are determined to rebuild around a new model of higher education and continue making our own unique contribution to society in the decades ahead.

Bunka Gakuen University began life as Bunka Women’s Junior College in 1950, just as the new School Education Act was coming into effect. Driven by its founding spirit of “Creating New Beauty and Culture,” the junior college pioneered a new and distinctive style of education over a period of 60 years, always a step ahead of its time. At the same time the institution expanded with the opening of Bunka Women’s University-today comprising three faculties and seven departments-and the addition of the Graduate Program in Fashion and Living Environment Studies with master’s and doctoral courses and the Graduate Program in Humanities and Intercultural Studies with a master’s course. More recently, the Bunka Fashion Research Institute became Japan’s only officially designated center for collaborative research in fashion and clothing culture. This and our other facilities, including a unique library, various affiliated institutes, and the Fashion Resource Center, have earned the university an international reputation as a center for education and research. We are particularly proud of the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum, which provides direct access to study and research materials with its outstanding collection of more than 30,000 items of historical costume from Japan and other countries around the world. Meanwhile, we have been working to further enhance the university’s educational environment by building a campus of the twenty-first century, beginning with a state-of-the-art smart building in Tokyo’s new subcenter, completed in 2000.

Thanks to these cumulative efforts, the university’s international reputation has grown year by year. In 2009 we were chosen to chair the International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes as the organization’s only Japanese member institution, and in December 2010 the overseas-based fashion-industry website Fashionista ranked Bunka Gakuen (Bunka Fashion College) number 3 on its list of the world’s top 50 fashion schools-just behind the leading British and American institutions. Mirroring our rising international profile and growing involvement in global exchange, our student body has grown ever more diverse. Approximately 1,500 overseas students are currently enrolled in all our schools combined, and the number of countries represented on campus continues to grow.

However, in the increasingly international field of fashion and design education, coeducational schools have become the rule in the vast majority of countries, and it has become extremely difficult to promote international exchange while remaining confined to the “women’s university” category-a status explicitly indicated by our former name, Bunka Women’s University. Conscious of the need to remove unnecessary obstacles to international academic exchange as we work for the ongoing advancement of professional and vocational education, and mindful of the importance of providing an education with practical connections to the world of the future, we made the decision to rename the school Bunka Gakuen University in preparation for opening admissions to men and women alike as of academic year 2012, in order to train talented and committed students from all walks, regardless of gender, to take their place as professionals in these fields.

In no sense, however, does this change in name signal a departure from our founding philosophy or our fundamental educational ideals. As we enter a new phase in the University’s history, we are committed to preserving our 60-year tradition of excellence in vocational training while further enhancing the quality of that education. We hope all of you will join us in this quest, exploring and extending your own unique abilities and qualities in order to take your place as the leaders of tomorrow’s global society.