Based at the heart of the third largest city in Japan, a bustling port and the country’s commercial capital, Osaka City University is a distinct higher education institution deeply embedded in its urban location and local community.
Its predecessor, Osaka Commercial Training Institute, was founded back in 1880 with funding from local merchants. As it grew in size, it became Osaka City Commercial School, Osaka City Commercial College and then Osaka University of Commerce before it eventually merged in 1949, taking on its current name.
Urban issues have continued to be among OCU’s priorities, ensuring that, as its founding principles set out, it remains closely linked to the city of Osaka and conducts extensive research into the local economy and the needs of its people. It has eight faculties, including the Faculty of Business, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Law and Faculty of Science, and even more graduate schools, from the Graduate School of Literature and Human Sciences to the Graduate School for Creative Cities. The latter places a special emphasis on Kansai, the region in which Osaka is located.
Arguably the best culinary city in the country, Osaka’s vibrant markets and arcades are popular among visitors, as is the nightlife.
OCU has a long history of student protest and activism over national and international causes, and many of its students clashed with the US Army when it was occupied in the 1940s.
It has more than 27 inter-university agreements with overseas institutions, and over 117 inter-faculty partnerships across Europe, North and South America and Asia in particular.
