Keio University Keio Gaigo

2016/07/07

Image: 50th Anniversary Ceremony of the Founding of Keio University Keio Gaigo (1992)

In August 2015, Keio Gaigo, which had played a part in the Juku's foreign language education for 73 years, closed its doors as a language school. However, its content and spirit are still carried on today in the Research Center for Foreign Language Education's "Keio Gaigo Open Courses."

Keio University Keio Gaigo was established in October 1942 as an affiliate of the Keio Language Institute (now The Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies). At the time, language research at Keio University centered on English studies, but the Keio Language Institute was established during the transition from the Second Sino-Japanese War to the Pacific War to engage in full-scale research and foreign language education on Southeast Asian languages alongside Western languages. Keio Gaigo was then established with the aim of providing advanced foreign language education based on those research results, and on October 17 of the same year, it was authorized by Tokyo Prefecture as a school under the Miscellaneous School Ordinance of the time.

The first characteristic of this school was that it set the admission requirement as completion of the fourth year of the old-system middle school, and admitted a wide range of working adults regardless of gender, age, or occupation, according to their desires and abilities. Since coeducation was not common at the middle school level and above at the time, a "Female Language Institute Trainee" class was established to accept female students.

The second characteristic was that it offered a diverse range of 21 languages, including both Western and Asian languages. Japanese language courses were established for foreigners seeking to enter Japanese schools. Furthermore, the faculty included truly world-class scholars of the time, such as Junzaburo Nishiwaki as the first principal of Keio Gaigo and Toshihiko Izutsu as the Vice Principal.

In 1956, it was authorized as a miscellaneous school under the Miscellaneous School Regulations newly enacted by the Ministry of Education. Subsequently, Keio Gaigo continued to fulfill its role as the Juku's foreign language education institution open to society. In 1996, enrollment reached a peak of 1,497 students. However, as internationalization and globalization progressed and innovations in foreign language education occurred, concrete plans for new reforms began to be considered within Keio Gaigo. After many years and much discussion, in April 2013, an organizational merger was carried out with the Research Center for Foreign Language Education, which is responsible for language education research at the university. From October of that year, the Research Center for Foreign Language Education's "Keio Gaigo Open Courses" began with the same content as Keio Gaigo. These courses were separate from Keio Gaigo's classes and allowed for free institutional changes and curriculum reforms to meet social needs without being bound by miscellaneous school regulations. From this point, Keio Gaigo stopped admitting new students.

After all current students had graduated or otherwise left, Keio Gaigo was abolished on August 7, 2015. Its role has been directly taken over by the "Keio Gaigo Open Courses," which currently offers over 170 courses in 13 languages.

(Laboratory Vice Principal Shigefumi Tada)