The College of Intercultural Communication—and other undergraduate programs at Rikkyo University—offer a number of courses that are conducted in English and Japanese. In addition, Rikkyo University’s General Curriculum offers courses to learn English, Chinese, French, German, Korean, and Spanish. The Center for Japanese Language Education offers courses to learn Japanese.

An integral part of the College of Intercultural Communication curriculum contains courses conducted in English. In addition, it is also a part of our curriculum goals to open the majority of these courses only to international exchange students from our partner universities rather than all international exchange students studying at Rikkyo University. We do so primarily for two reasons. First, this helps us keep our class sizes to about 20 students, creating a mix of CIC students and international exchange students. Second, this approach supports relationship-building, allowing CIC students to meet international exchange students who are from a partner university where the CIC student may have studied at or wishes to in the future. This connection aims to extend such familiarity at Rikkyo University as well as on the campuses of our partner universities.

International exchange students who wish to take academic courses conducted in Japanese first must take the Japanese language placement test. Based upon the placement results, students will know for which courses they are eligible to register. For more information, see "Japanese Language Courses" below.

This link to shared files provides detailed course information.

In addition to academic lectures related to the four areas of our curriculum, CIC offers two for-credit courses that were created specifically to incorporate international exchange students: Cultural Exchange and Service Learning C: English Camp. Both are conducted in English.

International exchange students are expected to discuss and plan their course plans with their home institution before arriving to Japan. It is best that international exchange students plan for not only the courses they want to take, but also for additional courses just in case they are unable to take what they wish.

By and large, CIC courses offerings do not change year to year, but there is a possibility of issues such as scheduling conflicts.

In addition, be careful to note that some courses are “Limited Courses” (follow the link to the shared files above). Limited Courses have a maximum capacity of enrollment, and enrollment is randomized. If a student is selected to be registered for such a course, they can only drop the course through special permission, which may not be approved. Understand that by being registered for such a class, another student may not be. Thus, once a student is registered for such a class, it is understood to be fixed.

Course registration will take place during orientation week, not before. The course registration schedule generally follows the same course registration schedule for all Rikkyo University students.

Undergraduate international exchange students—to satisfy the requirements for a Student Visa—must be enrolled in 10 real-time hours of in-class instruction per week. Note that this is not a minimum number of course credits, but rather the number of class hours per week. To satisfy 10 real-time hours (i.e., 600 minutes) per week, an undergraduate international exchange student must have at least 6 class meetings per week. However, international exchange students are advised to create a course plan that satisfies their home university requirements and expectations.

International exchange students are expected to arrive in time for—and fully attend—the orientation. If there is a scheduling conflict, contact the CIC Study Abroad Office immediately.

If an international exchange student wishes to request to extend their study abroad while studying at Rikkyo University, they must contact the CIC Study Abroad office as early as possible, and their home institution must also be involved before any such request can be granted.

Any other issue regarding the exchange duration should be made to the CIC Study Abroad office in advance, ideally prior to the student’s arrival to Japan.

International exchange students are not required by CIC to have any prior knowledge of Japanese. However, regardless of Japanese language ability, all international exchange students who wish to study the Japanese language must take a placement test, which includes a brief interview, during the orientation week by the Center for Japanese Language Education.

Beginners will be offered to either take “survival” Japanese classes or a more intensive introduction to the Japanese language. Students who have Japanese language ability will take a full placement test in order to best understand their needs. In addition, based upon the placement test results, students may be eligible to register for academic courses conducted in Japanese.

For more information about the Japanese language courses visit the Center for Japanese Language Education website.

International exchange students will be assigned a professor from the College of Intercultural Communication as their Academic Advisor. International exchange students will meet their Academic Advisor soon after arriving to Japan, and the Academic Advisor will continue to be a contact person to help with academic life here in Japan.

The College of Intercultural Communication and Rikkyo University encourage international exchange students to provide information during the application process that will help us provide the best support possible. We will coordinate with the Rikkyo University Student with Disabilities Support Office to provide the necessary information to course instructors.