Faculty Features and Career Paths
FEATURES College of Literature
Expanding possibilities and diversity in interdisciplinary research
A major feature of College of Literature is the great diversity of study available to each student across a range of academic fields, including literature, linguistics, philosophy, history, sociology, and art studies, across five departments. Students can combine the university-wide "The Aoyama Standard" general education, common subjects for College of Literature, foreign language subjects for each department, and specialized subjects based on their own initiative, allowing them to realize an interdisciplinary and unique four-year course of study.
College of Literature common subjects
The study of human beings
College of Literature covers five fields: English and American Literature, French Literature, Japanese Literature, History, and Comparative Arts. They all share the common goal of being called "humanities" in the traditional academic field, and both aim to "know about humans and pursue knowledge for humans." In order to incorporate this common idea into the curriculum, each department pooled their ideas to offer the foundations of the Faculty of Letters common subjects. The framework has remained essentially unchanged to this day. This means that College of Literature courses are available that take into account larger cultural trends while remaining conscious of the rapidly changing times.
Meaningful diversity
Knowledge of classical Greek and Latin will be essential for those majoring in English and American literature, French literature, or Western history. The same goes for intellectual history, cultural history, and music history. Alongside these classical subjects, there are also interdisciplinary subjects. Text theory, comparative literature, and comparative linguistics discuss fields that cannot be covered in specialized courses from a comprehensive and relative perspective. The fact that publishing journalism and broadcast journalism have been offered since the beginning of the Faculty of College of Literature common courses is a testament to the keen insight of College of Literature predecessors.
In addition, "endowed courses" are run through donations from companies and organizations, where the university provides the educational space and outsources the teaching staff and curriculum content, complementing university education, which tends to be biased towards theory, by providing practical education based on the current state of society. With a few exceptions, College of Literature common courses are offered to second, third, and fourth year students. Along with The Aoyama Standard Courses, they are sure to deepen the meaning of studying at university.
Practical foreign language and information education
Practical foreign language education with emphasis on second languages
The Faculty of College of Literature considers foreign language education to be an important pillar. We place importance on not only learning the language, but also the culture and lifestyles behind it, as well as people's perspectives and ways of thinking. We provide instruction from native speakers and other faculty members who have experience living in the language-speaking region and have extensive knowledge of the language, culture, and lifestyles.
Cultivating skills suited to the highly advanced information age
We offer information-related courses that allow students to acquire the skills to use information and materials. In order to improve the content of their studies and research, they need to browse a wide range of materials, research papers, and specialized literature. In such cases, information technology is indispensable, such as searching the Internet, collecting materials, and creating databases.
Small-group seminars
Education is centered on small-group seminars (exercises) where students learn through friendly interactions with faculty members. In this faculty, where all students belong to a seminar, students receive support from attentive and ingenious faculty members, and students can study with each other and take their time. Faculty members hone students' research skills, such as reading comprehension and analytical ability, through guidance on graduation theses and research that students undertake in their fourth year. Graduation theses are elective or required subjects for all departments except Department of Japanese Language and Literature and Department of History, but many students take on the challenge. Some seminars allow students to demonstrate the results of their learning outside of school, such as by achieving excellent results in prize-winning essays or participating in social activities.
CAREER Career Paths and Employment
Graduates from College of Literature are able to find employment in a wide range of fields and industries. Please see the graph below for an overview.
In addition, College of Literature offers the opportunity to acquire a teaching license for junior high school or high school, and sends out many students every year. It is also possible to acquire qualifications as a librarian teacher, librarian, social education officer, or curator.
