●Public Law Course ●Private Law Course ●Criminal Law Course ●International Business Transaction Law Course ●Political Science Course 

The Graduate School of Law offers a curriculum for students to gain advanced research skills and a deep understanding of the law, political science, and related fields and to be able to perform tasks requiring a high level of expertise.

To gain basic knowledge and abilities in addition to their field of specialization, the Master's Program offers students "Basic Research Courses" and the Doctoral Program offers "Research Theory Courses.” "Basic Research Courses" of the Master's Program offer basic research skills, such as research ethics, research methodology, and academic writing, to help students acquire the basic knowledge and abilities necessary for research. The Doctoral Program "Research Theory Courses" provide students with the research guidance needed to be qualified as independent researchers.

In addition to the courses mentioned above, students are required to write a thesis or dissertation, researching their own topic under the guidance of their supervising professor.

The Graduate School of Law has five areas of specialization: Public Law, Private Law, Criminal Law, International Business Transaction Law, and Political Science.

After completing these Chuo Programs, graduates are prepared to pursue justice and fairness in our society as professional researchers or business/government lawyers.

●Economics Course

Modern economics is developing a variety of new research methods and has become an essential discipline for understanding the increasingly complex phenomena of modern economic society and for formulating economic and social policies. As society becomes more complex and knowledge becomes more sophisticated, there is also a growing need in the private sector and government agencies for personnel who can apply advanced methods freely in a variety of contexts.

Under these circumstances, our two main educational goals of the Graduate School are to nurture "researchers" and "advanced professionals" who will lead the next generation. The first, fostering researchers, has been a longstanding emphasis of us since its founding, and through a coordinated guidance system from the master's program to the doctoral program, we have contributed to society by producing many researchers who are currently enrolled in research institutes and think tanks, as well as university faculty members throughout Japan. The second type of training, "advanced professionals," is a relatively recent effort to meet the social needs of private companies, government offices, and other organizations as described above. To meet these needs, we established three-course-system (Researcher Course, Advanced Professional Course, and Certified Tax Accountant Course) in the Master's Program in 2019. In this way, we are building a system that faces each student's future plans and appropriately nurtures the necessary skills.

Under the guidance of faculty members who meet the diverse needs of students in the Researcher Course, the Advanced Professional Course, and the Certified Public Tax Accountant Course, the program aims to foster human resources who can "master" knowledge of economics at a higher level and possess the logical thinking, analytical, and communicative abilities required at the forefront of society. 

●Commerce Course

Based on the degree to be awarded, lecture courses are divided into five fields (business administration, accounting, commerce, finance, and economics). Students can specialize in a particular field of study within these areas and also deepen their own research in other areas by utilizing a wide range of educational and research resources.

In the Master's Program, the "Research Course" is designed for researchers with a wealth of academic knowledge, and the "Business Course" is designed for businesspersons who can acquire qualifications and perform tasks requiring excellent insight and a high level of expertise, according to their desired career path. In addition, as a place for students to present the results of their research, they can publish their papers in multiple publications within the university, and in the doctoral program, they can participate in projects at the university's Corporate Research Institute. 

We have a large number of educational staff covering a diverse range of fields who teach lecture and seminar courses and provide substantial educational and research support. Another significant feature of the doctoral program is that the writing of doctoral dissertations systematically guided to a certain level of completion, with advance guidance and opportunities for review. 

●Japanese Literature ●English Studies ●German Studies ●French Studies ●Chinese Studies ●Japanese History ●Asian and African History ●European and American History ●Philosophy ●Sociology ●Socio-Informatics ●Education ●Psychology

The program consists of 13 courses: Japanese Literature, English Studies, German Studies, French Studies, Chinese Studies, Japanese History, Asian and African History, European and American History, Philosophy, Sociology, Socio-Informatics, Education, and Psychology. Students can take a wide variety of courses beyond the boundaries of their own major in addition to specialized courses in their own major. This enables students to acquire an advanced and deep education from a broad perspective through a combination of courses in their own specialized fields and courses across majors. In addition, as a substantial research support system for degree acquisition, each major has its own "Joint Research Office" with a large collection of related materials, journals, books, and other specialized periodicals, as well as a variety of journals for each major, research presentation meetings, and other opportunities to present research and publish their research findings.

The Graduate School of Letters fosters human resources who can contribute to the globalized and highly information-oriented modern society, from local communities to international society, by focusing on the inner life, society, and history of human beings as research subjects. Our alumnae and alumni are active in their fields, using their highly specialized knowledge. 

｜Fields of study in each courses
●Japanese Literature Course
Japanese Literature in Heian Period, Japanese Literature in Middle Period, Japanese Literature in Edo Period, Modern Japanese Literature, Modern Japanese Literature, Contemporary Japanese Literature, History of the Japanese Language, Japanese Literature written in Chinese Style

●English Studies Course
English Novel (Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century), English Novel (Twentieth and Twenty-First Century), English Poetry, Literatures in English, American Literature (Nineteenth Century), American Literature (Twentieth and Twenty-First Century), Semantics and Pragmatics, Morphology and Syntax, Phonetics and Phonology, Language Acquisition

●German Studies Course
German Literature, German Linguistics, German Literature, German Art, Contemporary German History and Society, Comparative Literature and Culture

●French Studies Course
Classic & Enlightenment French Literature, Modern French Literature, Contemporary French Literature, French Cultural & Social History, History of Modern French Art

●Chinese Studies Course
Contemporary Chinese Literature, Classical Chinese Literature, Chinese Thought and Culture, Chinese-Japanese Comparative Culture, Contemporary Chinese Grammar, Chinese Translation Studies

●Japanese History Course
Ancient Japanese History, Japanese History in the Middle Ages, Japanese History in the Middle Ages, Early Modern Japanese History, Modern Japanese History, Political History of Japan, Japanese Archaeology, Archival Science, Records Management

●Asian and African History  Course
Ancient Chinese History, Chinese History in the Middle Ages, Chinese History in the Early Modern Ages, Central Eurasian History, Islamic History, Southeast Asian History, Study on Asian Culture

●European and American History Course
Ancient History, Medieval History, Early Modern History, Modern History, Contemporary History

●Philosophy Course
Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, European Philosophy in the Early Modern Ages, Contemporary European Philosophy, History of Moral Philosophy in Japan, Chinese Philosophy

●Sociology Course
Social Movements and Collective Action, Social Change, Globalization, East Asian Society, Regional Sociology, Urban Sociology, Clinical Sociology, Sociology of Family, Historical Sociology, Gender and Sexuality, Sociological Theories, Sociological Imagination

●Socio-Informatics Course
Social Psychology, Sociology of Culture, Media Communication Theory, Socio-informatics Theory, Library & Information Science

●Education Course
Philosophy of Education, History of Education, Methodology of Education, Educational Administration, Sociology of Education, Lifelong Education

●Psychology Course
School Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Comparative Cognitive Psychology, Lifespan developmental Psychology, Clinical and Health Psychology, Neuropsychology, Psychiatry

●Policy Studies Course

Aiming at "the fusion of policy and culture, and the fusion of the humanities and sciences," we are developing human resources who can understand and solve social problems from an interdisciplinary perspective. In a "cross-border society" where people come and go across the boundaries of academia, nation, culture, religion, industry-academia-government, etc., the Graduate School of Policy Studies cultivates human resources who can be active in "policy research" such as law policy, public policy, and management policy based on cultural perspectives as their fields of expertise. 

Our goal is to the scope of activities of these human resources is not limited to traditional educational and research institutions, but also extends to the field of corporate planning and strategy formulation in companies and the policy field in government agencies, reflecting the needs of domestic and international society. In response to such social demands, the Graduate School of Policy Studies offers an interdisciplinary seminar (Seminar for Policy Studies II) that aims to conduct interdisciplinary research that incorporates not only the theories of existing specialized fields but also a wide range of related fields. This is a team-teaching exercise in which faculty members with different areas of expertise come together to work on a certain theme. The aim of this exercise is to encourage students to conduct research from multiple perspectives, and at the same time, to cultivate a wide range of thinking skills by bringing together students from different research fields under a single exercise and stimulating each other's work. 

●Department of English Studies, Graduate School of Letters
You can complete a Master’s degree program (MA) or a Doctoral program (Ph.D.) exclusively in English (i.e., with no academic proficiency in Japanese) at the Department of English Studies, majoring in theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics, and psycholinguistics. The title of the degree students will obtain when they complete the program is Master of Arts (Letters)［修士（文学）］or Doctor of Philosophy (Letters) ［博士（文学）］. This department is very strong in theory- and data-driven studies of second language acquisition, first language acquisition, language attrition and language disorders. The courses for the MA are taught by the following members of academic staff:

【Full-Time Faculty】

Professor Makiko Hirakawa, Ph.D. (McGill) (Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, Language Attrition, Psycholinguistics, English Language Teaching)

Professor Tomoko Matsui, Ph.D. (UCL) (Language Disorder, First Language Acquisition, Pragmatics)

Professor John Matthews, M.A., (Ph.D., ABD) (McGill) (Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, Phonology, Phonetics, Psycholinguistics)

Professor Shigenori Wakabayashi, Ph.D. (Cambridge) (Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, Morphology and Syntax, Generative Grammar, Psycholinguistics, English Language Teaching)

【Adjunct Faculty】

Professor Neal Snape, Ph.D. (Essex) (Psycholinguistics, Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition, Morphology and Syntax)

Associate Professor Junya Fukuta, Ph.D. (Nagoya) (Psycholinguistics, English Language Teaching, Consciousness in Language Learning)

Applicants for admission through a special entrance examination for international students must have a foreign nationality and fulfill either of the following conditions as of April 1, Admission Year: 

●Master’s Program
(1) Applicants must have graduated from a four-year university, with a Bachelor’s degree in Japan.
(2) Applicants must have completed 16 years of school education with a Bachelor’s degree in countries other than Japan.
(3) Applicants must be recognized by the Graduate School concerned as having academic ability equivalent to those who have graduated from a four-year university, and must be aged at least 22 years old.
(4) For details, please inquire at Office of Graduate Schools, Chuo University. 

●Doctoral Program
(1) Applicants must have obtained a master's degree.
(2) Applicants must have obtained a professional degree.
(3) Applicants must have obtained a degree equivalent to (1) or (2), or higher degree from a university in countries other than Japan.
(4) Applicants must be recognized by the Graduate School concerned as having academic ability equivalent to those who have obtained a master's or higher degree, and must be aged at least 24 years old.
(5) For details, please inquire at Office of Graduate Schools, Chuo University. 

Please note (*Admissions for International Students):
1. Applicants who have both foreign and Japanese nationalities are eligible to apply.
2. Applicants who have graduated from a Japanese university as well as those who have obtained a master's degree from a Japanese university are eligible to apply.
3. Applicants who have graduated from a Japanese senior high school are not eligible to apply 

｜Application and Exam

●General entrance examination
The general entrance examination is held twice a year (Autumn and Spring). Some departments may have the entrance examination only once a year, and in others, how the entrance examination is carried out may differ between the two exam sessions. For details, please contact the university.

[Application schedule for 2026 Admission]  <Submit by postal service to the Graduate Schools Office.>
* means only Master’s degree program (MA)
Autumn : 2025/7/2 Wed. ～ 7/4 Fri. (Graduate School of Law / Economics* / Commerce* / Letters* / Policy Studies*)
Spring    : 2025/11/24 Mon. ～ 11/27 Thu. (Graduate School of Law / Economics / Commerce / Policy Studies)
                  2025/12/2 Tue. ～ 12/4 Thu. (Graduate School of Letters)

For more details, please contact the university.

>> Contact us

●Entrance examination for non-Japanese candidates
[Application schedule for 2026 Admission] <Submit by postal service to the Graduate Schools Office.>
* means only Master’s degree program (MA)  ** means only Doctoral  program (Ph. D.)
Autumn : 2025/7/2 Wed. ～ 7/4 Fri. (Graduate School of Law / Economics* / Commerce* / Letters* / Policy Studies*)
Spring : 2025/11/24 Mon. ～ 11/27 Thu. (Graduate School of Law / Economics / Commerce** / Policy Studies)
                2025/12/2 Tue. ～ 12/4 Thu. (Graduate School of Letters)
For more details, please contact the university.

>> Contact us

｜Admission

All entrance examinations are for admission in April. There is no admission in September.

You can get more information about entrance examinations from the admission guidelines. 

>> Admission Guidelines (only Japanese)

Here, we explain application documents which you need attention. There are other application documents beside the below, so when you apply, please check application guidelines carefully. You need to submit all the application documents by postal service to Graduate Schools Office.

｜Japanese Proficiency (for foreign nationals)
You need a certificate of your Japanese proficiency to apply. It is required to meet the following criteria either (1) or (2). *Excluding English Literature Course and Asian History Course (Graduate School of Letter).

(1) Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)  N1 : Pass

(2) Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU) : 

Total score for Japanese as a foreign language (including “reading comprehension”, “listening”, and “listening-reading comprehension” but excluding “writing”) must be 260 points or more.

 *Those who meet any of the following do not have to submit the above certificate.

・those who graduate university or graduate school in Japan

・those who are Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho : MEXT) Scholarships students at the time of application (excluding MEXT Honors Scholarship for Privately-Financed International Students)

｜Certificates (Graduation, Completion, Grades)
About graduation certificate, completion certificate and grade certificate, you need to submit original ones written in Japanese or English.

● For those who graduate university or graduate school in China
Please submit (1) graduate / completion certificate, (2) degree certificate, (3) grade certificate in original. It sometimes takes a long time to get certificates, so we recommend for you to prepare early. 

We only accepted original certificates written in Japanese or English which are issued by Chinese universities or graduate schools. If your certificate are written in other language, please add translation in Japanese or English. Be sure to obtain a certification from a public institution such as an embassy. We don’t accept ones which are certified by Japanese-language schools or private translators.
We don’t accept certificates issued online, but only accept ones issued in paper. 

Q. Are there any programs that can be completed in English only?

A. Currently, there is only one such program (Department of English Studies, Graduate School of Letters). In all Chuo graduate schools, most classes are conducted in Japanese, so you will need to use Japanese in order to complete the course.

Q. When is the entrance examination held?

A. You can check the schedule in "Date of Application, Exam and Admission" section above. For details, please contact the university.

>> Contact us

Q. Do I need to submit a Japanese Language Proficiency Test score to apply for an entrance examination?

A. Except for the Department of English Studies and the Department of Oriental History, you must submit a certificate of Japanese proficiency. It is required that you meet either of the following criteria, (1) or (2).

(1) Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N1: Pass

(2) Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU):

Total score for Japanese as a foreign language (including “reading comprehension”, “listening”, and “listening-reading comprehension” but excluding “writing”) must be 260 points or more.

Q. How do I apply for admission? What is the application procedure?

A. You need to submit all the application documents by postal service to Graduate Schools Office. For more details, contact the office in advance using the inquiry form below.

>> Inquiry Form