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 LL.
M. & YLP Commencement, 2005 |
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The
Faculty of Law was founded in
1924 as a department within the
Faculty of Law and Humanities,
and achieved full independent
status in 1949. A distinctive
feature of law faculties in Japan
is that they were initially established
with the aim of educating civil
servants. This approach can be
contrasted with Europe and the
United States where legal education
has been more practice-oriented
and focused on preparing students
for the bar examination and a
future career as a legal professional.
One consequence
of this difference in institutional
objectives has been the inclusion
of political scientists within
Japanese law faculties, and political
science in the law curriculum.
The ordinance that first established
Kyushu University, Faculty of
Law in the early 1920fs included
in its selection of classes various
political science topics, including,
the history of politics and the
history of diplomacy.
This tradition
of offering a diverse curriculum
in undergraduate education can
be regarded as an interesting
feature of Japanese universities
and reflects the central role
of bureaucrats in Japanese modernization.
As such, the law faculties of
Japan have contributed to socio-economic
development by educating successive
generations of public servants,
as well as providing law graduates
for many other sectors of society.
In recent years
this approach to undergraduate
legal education has been supplemented
as a result of government led
efforts to reform the training
of legal professionals. In April
2004 the government established
a new system of graduate level
law schools. This development
suggests that a European, or perhaps
more accurately, US system of
legal education has now been adopted
in Japan. |
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Kyushu University Law
School is one of around
seventy such institutions
that now offers graduates
from all disciplines the
opportunity to prepare for
the new style national bar
examination.
In addition,
the Graduate School of Law
has sought to foster its
international reputation
by initiating Japanfs first
LL.M. program in 1994. This
program is a Masterfs course
in economic and business
Law taught entirely in English.
An LL.D. program also in
International Economic and
Business Law and a MA in
Comparative Studies of Politics
and Administration in Asia
(CSPA) were launched in
1999. The Graduate School
of Law was also selected
by the Ministry of Education
to host the Young Leaderfs
Program (YLP). This program
aims to contribute to the
fostering of a future network
of national leaderfs within
Asia by providing legal
professionals and governmental
officials with the opportunity
to spend one year in Japan
studying for a Masterfs
level degree. |
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| Student
Lounge, Faculty of Law |
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