Why don’t students decide on their majors until the end of second year?

ICU uses the major system to enable students to identify and pursue their genuine academic interests. Students develop their basic academic abilities through a wide range of courses during their first and second years, gradually narrow their fields of interest, then choose their majors before starting their third year of studies. A trimester system involving six rounds of course selection in the first two years provides students with ample opportunity to identify potential fields of interest.

Based on the idea of allowing students time to learn broadly and explore different possibilities for specialization, this kind of educational system is far from rare outside Japan. It is also during this period of exploring that students build their intellectual foundations in terms of reasoning and approaches to knowledge. These are universal abilities applicable throughout life, and can be used to extend into other topics of learning in changing times.

Students who enter ICU unsure as to what major to pursue can uncover their true passions as they pursue actual studies in line with their interests. Such studies can also yield encounters with new fields of interest. Advancing your studies while weighing up your own interests and aptitudes at university: this is what the major system at ICU is all about.