The Graduate School of Economics at Osaka University features a systematic curriculum that allows students to choose from two disciplines of economics and business administration. Following the tradition practical leaning, emphasis is placed on quantitative methods (statistical analysis and information processing) to promote empirical education and research. Course subjects are offered in suitably small classes, one of the school’s most attractive features.

The Graduate School of Economics offers three major programs; Economics Programs, Applied Economics and Policy Studies Programs, Management Science and Business Administration Program. The Economics Program features the study of modern economics in which creativity and logic have an important place. The Economic Policy and Business Administration Program, which is unique to Osaka University, expands its research to interdisciplinary areas, and mainly offers useful subjects for those who wish to pursue careers as economists or analysts in the real business world. The Management Science and Business Administration program emphasizes corporate management through both scientific and pragmatic approach.

The Graduate School of Economics at Osaka University demonstrates their academic excellence by publishing the latest findings to the world. The Institute of Social and Economic Research, which plays an important part in the Graduate School of Economics, edits one of the world’s most authoritative economic journals, the “International Economic Review”, in collaboration with University of Pennsylvania, Papers are screened by anonymous referees who maintain stringent standards, which result in its academic significance. In the discipline of Economics, Osaka University is the only university in Japan that edits such an internationally recognized academic journal.

Furthermore, many of the faculty members in the Graduate School of Economics serve on the editorial board of leading journals around the world. They are also actively engaged in joint-research with foreign-based economists and hosting international economic conferences. More than 20 world-known scholars and researchers are invited to attend a conference sponsored by the School of Economics at Osaka University every year.

Osaka University also boasts number one status as the leading Japanese university for papers and notes accepted in “Japanese Economic Review”, a journal issued by the “Japan Economic Association”, the largest economics organization in Japan. The screening of this journal, as with the “International Economic Review”, is done by third-party evaluators, and the papers accepted are considered to have world-class quality.

In western countries, graduate-level education is often offered at prestigious universities, or so-called “Research Universities.” Osaka University claims to be one of the best “Research Universities” in Japan and offers an idea academic environment, in which student can interact with top-level researchers who undertake significant, often groundbreaking, research.

The Graduate School has introduced the most up-to-date computer system. It contains Highly Integrated Information Processing Rooms and Finance Laboratory equipped with lots of excellent software and large scale database which are connected with Gigabit Networks. All the computer facilities in the Graduate School offer 24-hour online services which are accessible from around the world. The Graduate School provides large scale databases such as economic data, financial data, individual business firm data, survey data in addition on the world data for exclusive use of students and faculty in their research work, writing theses and statistical analysis.

The Graduate School operates in an environment conducive to internationalization of students. In the disciplines of economics and business administration, it is indispensable to acquire a cosmopolitan outlook in response to the economic globalization. Osaka University has promoted the employment of foreign instructors as well as Japanese staff with international backgrounds who flavor the campus with lectures in foreign languages. We have close relations with about 20 overseas Universities under our academic Exchange Programs. A number of international students are regularly enrolled in the Graduate School of Economics. They are from various countries including Australia, the U.S.A., Israel, China and South Korea. The international Student Office was established in our School in 1994 for dealing with their academic and living concerns. There are now around 100 foreign students enrolled both in the School of Economic and the Graduate School of Economics.