Kobe University (神戸大学, Kōbe daigaku), also known in the Kansai region as Shindai (神大), is a leading Japanese national university located in the city of Kobe, in Hyōgo. It was established in 1949, but the academic origins of Kobe University trace back to the establishment of Kobe Higher Commercial School in 1902, which was renamed as Kobe University of Commerce, and Kobe University of Economics. Kobe University is one of the oldest and largest national universities in Japan, as well as one of the highest ranking national universities in the country. It comprises 14 graduate schools and 11 undergraduate faculties, and holds about 16,000 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. The institution welcomes overseas students, which accounted for a total of 1,179 students, as of 1 May 2021. It also has 3,102 staff members, including professors, associate professors and administrative officials. Located beside the foothills of Mount Rokkō, the university provides a view of the city and port of Kobe, providing a privileged environment for the pursuit of academic studies, especially in social science areas. Kobe Higher Commercial School was one of the oldest institution with business and economics majors in Japan. Especially, the Graduate School of Economics benefits fully from a century of the history and the tradition. Kobe is also the first collegiate business school in Japan. Therefore, Kobe is called the birthplace of Japanese higher education in economics and business administration, and it has always been the center of Japanese business studies.[citation needed] Furthermore, the Graduate School of Law was also established with the legal studies section of the former Kobe University of Economics. It has become a leading institution of high academic institution in the field of legal and political studies, and has been successful in becoming a reputable academic center.[citation needed] The Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, founded in 1919, has a history as a high-level research institution for international economics and international management. The institute has been highly regarded internationally for its outstanding achievements in theoretical, historical, empirical, and quantitative research.[citation needed] In the meantime, Kobe Hospital was established in 1869; it was a training center for medical practitioners, which was one of the oldest institutions in the modern medical education in Japan. In 1990, they made new changes as one of the major universities specializing in graduate research and education. Under the Japanese Ministry of Education and Science, it has started a new Center of Excellence (COE) projects, the "Research and Education Center of New Japanese Economic Paradigms", "Development and Education Center for Advanced Business Systems", and "Research Center for Dynamic Legal Processes of Advanced Market Societies".
