Internationalization efforts at ICU have earned its adoption into two initiatives being undertaken by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT): the Top Global University project and the Go Global Japan project.

ICU was founded in 1953 during a time of deep soul-searching after the end of World War II, and it was decided that ICU's objective would be to cultivate people who would contribute to peace around the world. Over the next 60 years, ICU has led Japanese universities in internationalization, and has been proud to send a great number of global citizens into the world to become trusted members of international society.

Today, ICU is expanding its liberal arts education in a global way, taking the next step in internationalization with the aim of cultivating an even greater number of trustworthy global citizens.