Graduate Schools

The university's graduate schools cover various fields. The number of graduate students in the university totals is approximately 1800-1900 including the courses of master's, doctoral and professional degree. A master's degree is awarded to those having completed a master's course which lasts normally for two years. Students who have finished a master's course in humanities and social sciences, science, agriculture, fisheries or engineering can apply for the corresponding doctoral courses. If there is no relevant doctoral course in this university, students might apply for a doctoral course in another university. In the field of medical, dental and veterinary science, no master's courses are offered because they have six-year undergraduate courses. Students who have completed their undergraduate courses in these fields can directly apply for the corresponding doctoral courses. A two-year medical science master course is open to those who have graduated in other disciplines and aim to obtain knowledge and techniques relating to medicine and dentistry in order to play a significant role in various fields after completing the course. A doctorate in humanities and social sciences, health sciences, agriculture, fisheries, science and engineering is awarded to those having completed a three-year doctoral course. In the case of doctorates in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, completion of a four-year doctoral course is required. A professional degree (JD) is awarded to those having completed a three- year professional graduate course of Law School. The professional graduate school for clinical psychology provides a master's degree to those having completed a two-year master course.

　Japanese universities have another system called ronpaku. This system provides researchers with a chance to obtain doctorates from Japanese universities through the submission of a dissertation without going through the course studies. A person who wishes to be awarded the ronpaku degree is required to have already made good achievements in his/ her research field and is recommended to make contact with a program advisor of the Graduate School of Kagoshima University before submission of his/her dissertation.

• Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences
  The Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences offers four masters' courses in Law, Economics and Social Systems, Humanistic-Environmental Cultural Sciences and International Cultural Studies and a doctoral degree course in Social Sciences.
  
  The school promotes its various research areas and has developed high quality postgraduate programs centered mainly on community-based subjects to enhance students' practical expertise in their specialised fields. Meeting the challenges of providing higher education accessible to mature students from the local community, classes are offered both in the evening to enable those with full-time jobs to enrol and off-campus in the access centers in Amami and Tokunoshima.

• Graduate School of Education
  Graduating students can advance to the post-graduate Education Research Course after their graduation. This course deals with one main area: Education Practice Research. Graduates receive a Masters degree in Education. Those who have already attained a first-class teacher's certificate can also acquire a specialized certificate. Those who want to obtain a teacher's license for elementary school must already have a license for teaching at junior or senior high school, and must be enrolled in the graduate school at least for three years.

• Graduate School of Health Sciences
  The graduate school of health sciences aims to develop: professionals with highly advanced knowledge and skills in health sciences; leaders and administrators who can carry out excellent educational and research activities; and personnel who can contribute to health care on remote islands and all over the world, as well as disseminate the results and data of educational research widely. In April 2003, a master's course was established, and in April 2005, a doctoral course was set up.
  
  The department's educational goals are to develop: 1) professionals, leaders, and administrators with advanced professional knowledge and skills; 2) high-quality educators and researchers to act as health care professionals; 3) personnel who can carry out original research and efficiently provide education to develop students' competencies; 4) personnel who can practice as leaders and administrators in community health care settings; 5) personnel who can practice as leaders in health care for islands and remote areas; and 6) personnel who can promote international health care activities.

• Graduate School of Agriculture
  Graduate School of Agriculture was established in 1966. It offers the following three courses: Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Biochemical Science and Technology, Environmental Sciences and Technology. Located in the food production base of Japan motivating wide range of biological and natural resources, we study environmentally friendly food production techniques, clarification and application of biological functions, conservation and reformation of natural ecosystem and vitalization of rural societies. Furthermore, we promote research and education for new technology in the field of agriculture, forestry and food industry introducing bio-technology and advanced technique. We designed the school to develop students into highly specialized technicians and advanced researchers.

• Graduate School of Fisheries
  The Graduate School of Fisheries consists of five fields that include Fisheries Biology and Oceanography, Aquaculture, Biochemistry and Technology of Marine Food and Resources, Fisheries Engineering and Fisheries Economics. It provides a high-quality education and aims to produce qualified technical personnel who will join Fisheries Research Stations, Private Research Institutes or other fisheries related work. Some course lectures are conducted in English because many foreign students from East Asia, Africa and South America are enrolled in the Master's in Fisheries Science and Technology Course. A high percentage of them will continue to obtain a Doctor's degree in Fisheries Science at our United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences. Our faculty is involved in several projects overseas and encourages our young researchers to join these activities.

• Graduate School of Science and Engineering
  The Graduate School of Science and Engineering consists of ten divisions for a master's course and three divisions for a doctoral course.
  
  It is our mission to produce professionals who dedicate themselves to scientific pursuit, uphold high ethical standards and take on a difficult challenge, and to provide education that meets the changing needs of society both in content and paradigm so that we can contribute to the betterment of the local as well as the world community. To put this mission into practice, we educate students in theories ranging from basic to applied science and engineering, support them in their advanced study and help them contribute to the progress of human cultures.
  
  We develop our students into engineers, researchers and other professionals for the coming age in which such professionals will be required to be capable of making ethical judgments on issues that surround us, knowledgeable about nature and responsive to the advancement and diversification in the natural sciences.

• Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences
  The Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, with its three courses and fourteen departments, aims to respond quickly to the many demands of society and to carry out high level education and research efficiently while placing priority on medical ethics. The school strives to apply itself with flexibility and wide-ranging scope to medical research and the development of treatments for the cure and prevention of human disorders.
  
  Central to the school's mission are the following goals:
  to foster leading researchers and educators in the life science fields and; to create a center of education and research in medical and life science fields with particular relevance to the local region:
  
  This institution does not limit its intake to students who have graduated in the fieldsof medicine or dentistry. It welcomes graduates from a very wide range of disciplines, including those specializing in nursing and medical technology, students graduating from agricultural, science, and engineering faculties in subjects related to life sciences, synthetic chemistry, human engineering, or information management, and those from humanities faculties who have graduated with a first degree or master's degree in subjects such as medical sociology or medical economics.

• Kagoshima University Law School
  Kagoshima University Law School (KULS) was established in April 2004, as a 3-year professional graduate school. The Kagoshima area at the southern tip of Kyushu suffers from many legally related issues due mainly to the shortage of legal practitioners in this depopulated region.
  
  Recognizing these legal and judicial circumstances, our students are expected to graduate to become leaders in every type of legal practice and service for the local and national community. Students are conferred a Juris Doctor (J.D) after they complete the 3-year course.
  
  KULS enrolls 15-students per year and has 16 full-time law scholars and teachers and 32 affiliate teaching staff.
  
  Utilizing the advantage and feature of a small class composition, KULS is dedicated to providing the finest available legal education and teaching methods. The curriculum covers broad and varied legal fields and areas, not only to provide essential legal knowledge to pass a newly revised Bar Examination, but also to develop a wide interest in the legal issues and full awareness of legal professional's obligation to the global nature of society and the law.

• Professional Graduate School of Clinical Psychology
  The Professional Graduate School of Clinical Psychology was opened in April 2007 to produce clinical psychologists with advanced skills to contribute to the well-being of the Japanese public. Through a mixture of lectures, seminars and training (off and on campus), the individual/small group tuition-based curriculum enables the school's faculty, four clinical psychology clinicians and five academic staff, to prepare students to become leading psychologist in a variety of different fields such as education, welfare, healthcare and the judicial system. There are employment's places that offered in education, welfare, healthcare and the judicial system fields. Every year, all students take examination of employment and become employed as psychologist.

• United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences
  The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Kagoshima University, was established in 1988. The school is closely connected with the master's courses in Agriculture at Saga University, in Agriculture and Fisheries at Kagoshima University, and in Agriculture at University of the Ryukyus. The aim of the school is for students to master advanced agricultural or fisheries sciences through study and research involving regional contributions and international exchanges. Our research projects focus on advanced life science, food production, environmental protection, and marine science. Successful students are awarded a doctorate in Agricultural Science, Fishery Science, or Philosophy.

• Joint Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine
  Joint Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine was newly established at Kagoshima University on April, 2018. The doctoral program is operated by Joint Graduate School of Veterinary  Medicine at Kagoshima University and Joint Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine at Yamaguchi University, building on the baccalaureate degree programs established collectively by Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Kagoshima University and Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Yamaguchi University. During the four-year course offered by this graduate school, students receive advanced postgraduate education corresponding to a variety of international demands.

 

• United Graduate School of Veterinary Science(Headquartered in Yamaguchi University)
  The United Graduate School of Veterinary Sciences was established in 1990 with the cooperation of the departments of Veterinary Sciences of Yamaguchi University, Tottori University, University of Miyazaki and Kagoshima University. The school offers the Doctoral degrees in the field of Veterinary Medicine. This school aims to train students in research skills, and to confer deep knowledge and advanced technical ability in the veterinary sciences with its four-year course. It is hoped that after students graduate, they will make significant contributions to future veterinary research, teaching and practice. This school accepts many foreign students from various countries, especially from developing countries.