Kyoto Tachibana is a private university situated in Yamashina, a ward of Kyoto, imperial capital until 1869 and still one of Japan’s largest cities. It is one of more than 50 members of the Consortium of Universities in Kyoto and takes its name from a citrus tree exclusive to Japan which grows in profusion close to the former Imperial Palace.
Raised to university status in 1967, it has its roots in the Kyoto Girls Handicraft School founded in 1902, and plans for a women’s university dating to 1904. It attained university status, as Kyoto Women’s University, with a single faculty of humanities specialising in English, Japanese and history and the motto “to encourage and foster independent women”. The Tachibana name was added in 1988 and it took its current name and the philosophy of "independence, coexistence and practical knowledge" and ongoing co-education in 2005.
Research institutes were founded in 1992 and the graduate school in 1994. Following reorganisation in 2018 it has six faculties – English and global communications, humanities, human development and education, contemporary business, nursing and health sciences. Women accounted for just under 60 per cent of the 4,489 undergraduate students in 2018.
It was praised when accredited in 2016 by the Association of Japanese Universities for the strength of the nursing curriculum, focused on "nursing by the side of the patient", "understanding different cultures" and "lifecycles", the quality of student support provided by its Oritor system and strong community links epitomised by events such as the "Tachibana Sessions" debating local issues and the Parental Core Plaza for the parents of pre-school children.
