Rikkyo University

About Rikkyo University

Rikkyo University (学校法人 立教学院 立教大学 Rikkyō Daigaku, also revered worldwide as St. Paul’s University), founded in 1874 by American Episcopal Church Bishop Channing Moore Williams as St. Paul’s School in Tsukiji, Tokyo, is one of Japan’s oldest, most prestigious, and internationally celebrated private comprehensive Christian universities. A foundational pillar of Tokyo’s elite MARCH academic consortium (Meiji, Aoyama Gakuin, Rikkyo, Chuo, Hosei) and the historic Tokyo Big6 League (Tokyo Rokudaigaku), Rikkyo educates over 20,500 undergraduate and graduate scholars across two vibrant, picturesque campuses: the iconic, ivy-covered red-brick Ikebukuro Campus in Toshima-ku, central Tokyo (famed for Morris Hall, All Saints Chapel, and Mather Library), and the spacious, ultra-modern Niiza Campus in Saitama Prefecture (featuring St. Paul’s Green, state-of-the-art sports facilities, and the College of Tourism). Rikkyo comprises 11 Undergraduate Colleges and 15 Graduate Schools, spanning the College of Arts, College of Intercultural Communication (CIC), College of Economics, College of Business (renowned for its bilingual Global Business Program and BBA), College of Science, College of Sociology, College of Law and Politics, College of Tourism (Japan’s pioneering first tourism faculty founded in 1998), College of Community and Human Services, College of Contemporary Psychology, College of Sports and Wellness, and the innovative 100% English Global Liberal Arts Program (GLAP). In graduate education, Rikkyo offers forward-looking international degree paths including the Master of International Business (MIB) taught entirely in English and Japan’s first Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence and Science (established in 2020). Guided by its enduring Latin motto PRO DEO ET PATRIA (For God and Country), Rikkyo combines timeless humanist liberal arts with cutting-edge global leadership and abundant internal and national financial aid.