Message from the President
The world is facing unprecedented challenges today, in areas including economic growth, national security, food, energy, human rights, and the environment. Given these circumstances, Japan, as an industrialized and democratic nation in the developing Indo-Pacific region, has a major role to play. There is an urgent need to generate spaces for serious dialogue and evidence-based policymaking. The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), as Japan’s leading institute for policy studies and education, will serve as a space for such dialogues and deliberations.
GRIPS was established in 1997 as Japan’s first institution for education in and research on policy studies. Ever since then, GRIPS has consistently carried out research and instruction relevant to the current affairs of Japan and the world. Over the years, we have developed programs and capabilities that would not be possible within the framework of a conventional university.
GRIPS has a rich international character that makes it truly global in outlook. We offer many programs in which degrees can be acquired entirely in English and our faculty and staff hail from countries around the world. International students, coming from more than 50 countries and regions each year, make up more than 60 percent of our student body, and our alumni network extends across more than 120 countries and regions. Our students come from diverse professional backgrounds, including government, international and non-profit organizations, academia, and the business community.
GRIPS provides a wide range of support services for students. For example, the Center for Professional Communication (CPC) offers a full suite of resources to enable students to improve their communication skills and master academic writing, and cultural programs to deepen the experience of living in Japan. Also, since 2022, the Center for Data Science has been providing students with the data-related knowledge and skills needed for research on and education in Evidence-Based Policy Making (EBPM).
GRIPS has Ph.D. and master’s programs in a number of fields related to policy and economics. In the majority of GRIPS master’s programs, students can earn a degree in one year. During that period of intensive study, they can acquire a wide range of knowledge and skills, particularly related to theory and policy analysis in economics, political science, public administration, data science, and systems engineering. A key theme is our interdisciplinary approach to policy issues, where we redefine problems beyond traditional boundaries so as to find solutions to cross-disciplinary challenges.
In 2020, we launched several two-year master’s programs, primarily conducted in Japanese, enabling students to obtain master’s degrees through evening and Saturday classes –– the Global Leadership Development Program and the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Program. GRIPS also actively provides non-degree training programs to various governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Moreover, we have been working to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to serve as a hub of collaboration among the university, government, and business communities.
We have met new policy challenges successfully over the past two-and-a-half decades and will continue to do so, also serving as a venue where faculty, staff, and students can work together with stakeholders outside the university to tackle the most pressing policy challenges of the 21st century.
Hiroko Ota
President
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
