Bachelor in Global Liberal Arts Program | Global Liberal Arts Program

Tuition comes to 9,740 USD per year.

The Global Liberal Arts Program is a four-year bachelor's degree taught in English at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Japan, with intake in both April and September. Rikkyo University, founded in 1874, began as St. Paul's School, established by the Episcopal Church missionary Bishop Channing Moore Williams as a private school teaching Christian Bible studies and English, and it built itself on the model of traditional Western liberal arts colleges rather than the more utilitarian education trends common in Japan at the time, a direction it has continued to develop since. The Global Liberal Arts Program continues that tradition with a curriculum aimed at internationally minded undergraduates. Coursework in a global liberal arts program typically spans the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, with students encouraged to explore multiple disciplines before settling into areas of concentration, alongside coursework built around critical thinking, academic writing, and cross-cultural engagement. Students often study in cohorts that include a mix of Japanese and international classmates, and may take electives across subjects such as history, literature, economics, political science, and environmental or area studies as part of a broad-based undergraduate education. Graduates of liberal arts programs commonly move into graduate study, international organizations, media, education, business, and public sector roles, drawing on the adaptability that a broad, cross-disciplinary undergraduate education is meant to provide. With dual entry points in April and September, the Global Liberal Arts Program is structured to accommodate students coming from academic calendars that differ from the standard Japanese April start, while still situating them within Rikkyo's long-standing liberal arts tradition and its base in Tokyo.