Nihon Fukushi University (NFU), a Buddhist-affiliated university in the Chita Peninsula, Aichi, Japan, describes itself as a university of social welfare. The word Fukushi translates as welfare. It was founded as Chubu Junior College of Social Work in 1953 and became a four-year college known by its current name in 1957.
The university has about 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students over four campuses: in Tokai City in the north, Handa City in the centre and Mihama Town in the south of the peninsula, as well as the Nagoya graduate school campus. Satellite campuses have also been opened in Tokyo and Osaka.
NFU has about 15 to 20 international students from about five Asian countries, including China and Korea. To be eligible to apply, students must have passed level 3 of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) or got a principal of a Japanese language school to prove that they have equivalent proficiency.
Students are spread across eight faculties, 10 departments and four graduate programmes. Faculties include social welfare, child development, sports science and healthcare management, health sciences, economics, international welfare development and nursing. Fields of study include health and medical services, welfare and economics, education and growth. The social welfare major has been available since 1955. In 2017, the Faculty of Sports Science was established.
Graduate programmes include social welfare, clinical psychology, health and social services management, international social development, and healthcare management.
Research institutes include the Institute for Alternative Systems of Social Welfare and Development, the Support Room for Child Development, the Disaster Relief Center and the Japanese Language Education Center.
