Founded in 1972, the Hyogo College of Medicine is a private institution located in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, 15 minutes by rail from the city of Osaka and 30 minutes from Kobe. It defines its founding principles as "Service for the Welfare of Society, Deep Love of Humankind and Profound Scientific Understanding of Human Beings".
Graduate research was introduced in 1978, during a period of development and construction lasting until 2000 which saw the 10 buildings of the Nishinomiya campus built, including the Hyogo College hospital, which was recognised as an Advanced Treatment Hospital in 1994. University status was awarded by the Japan University Accreditation Association in 2004. A second campus opened in 1997 as the Saiyama Hospital, since 2010 known as the Saiyama Medical Centre.
Teaching is divided between the two campuses, with the bulk of primary care at the 180-bed Saiyama facility, whose specialities include rehabilitation and geriatric care while the 963-bed College Hospital provides advanced care, treating around 950,000 patients every year. Medical students take six-year courses for which humanities and social science options are assisted by an academic partnership with Kwansei Gakuin University. Laboratories in the Institute for Advanced Medical Science focus on fields including Cell Transplation, Allergic Diseases and Cell and Gene Therapy.
International links date back to an agreement with Saarland University in 1980, while recent years have seen significant student exchanges with the Universities of Washington, Rijeka and Shantung. A Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute was created in 2012, with exchanges beginning three years later with the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.
