Introduction of the Master's Program Advance Credit System and the Possibility of Completing the Master's Program in One Year
There is a growing social need for a workforce with advanced specialized knowledge. Not to mention the School of Medicine, there is an established trend in the Faculty of Science and Technology where approximately 80% of students study through to the master's program to acquire advanced expertise before seeking employment in private companies. Such a trend in business-related faculties has already begun in the West, and while slow, this wave is also arriving in Japan.
To respond to such movements in a new era, the Graduate School of Business and Commerce started a new system in April 2019. To complete a master's degree program, one must earn 32 credits and pass a master's thesis examination. Normally, the master's program is completed in two years, but if the completion requirements are met, it is possible to graduate in one year.
Under the new system, up to 16 credits of master's program courses taken as optional subjects during the third and fourth years of undergraduate study at Keio University can be recognized as completed credits upon admission to the master's program. Therefore, if one earns 16 credits in the year after entering the master's program and passes the master's thesis examination, there is a high possibility of completing the master's program in one year. In particular, many students have already earned most of their undergraduate graduation credits by the time they advance to their fourth year.
If you take master's program courses in advance during your fourth year and raise the level of your graduation thesis so that it corresponds to a master's thesis, completing the master's program in one year is by no means an impossible path. We hope that many students will take advantage of this new system and enter society from the Graduate School of Business and Commerce equipped with advanced specialized knowledge.
Eligibility for the Master's Program AO Admission
AO admission is available if academic performance from university entrance through the third year is within the top 30% of the student's faculty at this university.
Students of the Faculty of Business and Commerce at this university whose academic performance through the fourth year is within the top 30% can use AO admission for up to 10 years after graduation.