Message from the President

Keiwa College was founded in 1991 at the present location. The name of the college symbolizes Christian principles. Keiwa means to love God and to love one’s love neighbors. The college was established as the first Christian College in Niigata Prefecture. Keiwa College was established as a liberal arts college, with the moral and active contribution of the United Church of Christ in Japan. Accordingly, the college holds chapel hour every Friday.
Keiwa College endeavors to educate students who will strive to serve others. For this purpose, the college embodies the three doctrines, Christianity, Internationalism and Localism.

The education Keiwa College emphasizes the importance of local communities because of the strong support provided by the Niigata Prefectural Office, Shibata City and Seiro Town. The strong motivation of these governments to have a college in the Shibata area actualized the construction of the college, which was built on the border between the Shibata City and Seiro Town. For this reason, Keiwa College has become a symbol of the friendly co-existence of our two local communities. The students are asked to know about this history of the college’s foundation.

Through this friendly relationship of the two local communities, the dimension of internationalism is opened to all the students of Keiwa College. The local communities accept many people from abroad, and some of these people need help in communicating with neighbors living in the local city and town. The students are expected to do voluntary work to help these non-Japanese residents to enable them to adapt and adjust to the local communities. Learning foreign languages, as well as studying the history and cultures of other countries will help domestic and international students to serve people living in these local communities. Some of our students engage in teacher training at local schools as part of the Teaching License Programs in English, Social Studies and History. Japanese students are also encouraged to go abroad independently in order to improve their foreign language skills and also enhance their international understanding. The college helps arrange the study abroad programs in various ways. Also, the college students have an opportunity to study social welfare in general, in order to become social workers who can serve people at welfare facilities in the local community.

The education at Keiwa College offers students many possibilities. The college encourages students to be aware of global, as well as local issues through various opportunities in the classroom and in the off-campus active-learning program. “Glocalism” is a one of the college’s principles of education. We would like to share these possibilities with you. If you are interested in understanding Christianity and gaining a “glocal-perspective” in liberal arts, then the education at Keiwa will support you. Come and join us. There are many possibilities for your future at our college.

KANAYAMA Aiko, President Keiwa College