Kyoto
Seika University originated in 1968 (as a private two-year
college with Departments of Art and English) with the intention
of providing
a progressive, liberal and humanistic alternative to the heavily-criticized
Japanese "production-line" education
system of that time.
Academic
Development
Depth
and diversity, with a view to education of the whole person,
have always characterized Kyoto Seika's curriculum. All courses
draw on
the rich resources of actively committed faculty members and
the city of Kyoto itself, the cultural and intellectual heart of
Japan.
Beyond
their elective majors, students in both original college departments
enrolled in General Studies classes in Humanities, Social Sciences
and Natural Sciences. Options included Literature, Ethics, Law, Philosophy,
History of Thought, Sociology, Political Science, Cultural Anthropology,
Economics, Education, History of Science, Chemistry, Biology, and
Experimental Psychology.
Facilities
were built from the ground up; teachers and students shared the
challenges of creating an entirely new learning institution.
Within
10 years, the school qualified for full Bachelor of Arts accreditation
in
Art.The Faculty
of Art was established in 1979, and has
continued to expand and diversify over the years since then.
Ten
years later, in April
1989, the 4-year program of the Faculty
of Humanities enrolled its first intake, building
on the strong academic base of the former General Studies program,
and allowing individualized exploration of extensive study
fields within
three areas: Traditional Japanese Culture, Comparative Cultures,
and Environment and Culture.
In
Spring 2003 the Faculty of Humanities was reorganized around
three new integrated major areas: Social
and Media Studies, Cultural
and Art Studies, and Environmental
and Social Studies.
From
April 2006 the Faculty of Art was divided into three separate
Faculties, creating the new Faculty
of Design,
and Faculty
of Manga. Departments were also reorganized, resulting
in the following divisions: Fine Arts, Material Expression, Media
Arts; Visual Design, Product Design, Architecture; Cartoon &
Comic Art, Manga Production,
and Animation.
In addition to the former Faculty of Art's majors of Oil
Painting, Japanese
Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, Video
and Media Arts, Architecture, Ceramics, Textiles, Product
Communication Design, Cartoon Art and Comic
Art, Visual Communication Design has become Graphic
Design, and new majors are provided in Illustration, Digital
Creation, Interior Product
Design, Manga
Production, and Animation.
Masters'
Programs were introduced in the Faculty of Art in
April 1991, and in the Faculty of Humanities in April 1993.
Selected Ph.D. courses
were introduced in the Graduate School of the Faculty of Art
in April 2003. An innovative new multi-disciplinary Graduate
School syllabus, integrating studies in the areas of Art, Design,
Manga and Humanities, will
commence
in April 2010.
In
November 2006, in
collaboration with Kyoto City, KSU established the Kyoto
International Manga Museum, in a converted elementary
school building in downtown Kyoto, as a museum, library, and research
facility.
Honkan, reopened Spring 2009
