Meiji University (明治大学) is a private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920. As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergraduate students and 2,635 postgraduate students. The university consists of 10 undergraduate, 12 graduate, and 4 professional graduate schools, and operates on four campuses around the Greater Tokyo Area: Surugadai, Izumi, Ikuta, and Nakano. Meiji University is the country's most applied-to university, with applications to its undergraduate degrees amounting to approximately 100,000 annually. Meiji is a part of the Top Global University Project of Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. As of 2021, 270 Meiji alumni have competed in the Olympics, garnering 40 medals: 14 gold, 13 silver, and 13 bronze.

Academics

Undergraduate schools

Graduate schools

Professional Graduate Schools

Campus life

Meiji University's baseball team belongs to the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League. Every year, rugby union and baseball matches Meisōsen (明早戦) against Waseda University attract support among its students. It also has a successful judo team. The university announced on February 26, 2009, that it would open a museum dedicated to anime and manga. It will include international research centers hosting Japanese and international scholars as well as a large quality of artifacts on the subject.

Academic rankings

Meiji University has achieved worldwide recognition in various international publications focusing on higher education.

General rankings

The university has been ranked 19th and 26th in 2009 and 2010 respectively in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities" by Toyo Keizai.

Research performance

The Nikkei Shimbun on 16 February 2004 surveyed about the research standards in engineering studies based on Thomson Reuters, Grants in Aid for Scientific Research and questionnaires to heads of 93 leading Japanese Research Centers, and Meiji was placed 37th in this ranking. Meiji has filed the 62nd highest number of patents in the nation as its research outcomes.

Graduate school rankings

Meiji Law School is considered one of the top Japanese law schools, as Meiji's number of successful candidates for Japanese bar examination has been 14th and 20th in 2009 and 2010 respectively. It is one of the strongest department in this university as the cumulative number of people qualified as lawyer and prosecutor has been historically sixth after WW2. Eduniversal ranked Meiji as fourth in the rankings of "Excellent Business Schools nationally strong and/or with continental links" in Japan. Meiji University is one of the top 10 private universities in Japan.

Alumni rankings

According to the Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings, graduates from Meiji University have the 35th best employment rate in 400 major companies The university is also ranked sixth in Japan for the number of alumni holding the position of executive in the listed companies of Japan, and this number per student (probability of becoming an executive) is 25th. Meiji graduates have been ranked fifth in Japan in the number of successful national CPA exam applicants. Its graduates have been also ranked ninth in Japan in the number of successful Architect Registration exam applicants. Furthermore, the number of Members of Parliament who graduated Meiji is sixth in Japan.

Popularity and selectivity

The number of applicants per place was 24.9 (113,905/4,582) in the 2011 undergraduate admissions, this number of applicants (113,905) was largest in 2011. Its entrance difficulty is also very selective. Meiji university is regarded as comparable with the Tokyo-area private universities Aoyama Gakuin, Rikkyo, Chuo, and Hosei, collectively called "MARCH".

Alumni

Meiji University's alumni have included: Japan's first female lawyer, 2 Japanese prime ministers, 48 national politicians, 380 professional athletes, 115 company presidents, and 264 artists.

Politics

World leaders

Other politicians

Others

Sister Universities