Student review [#16309] for Sociology
at Osaka University

In terms of academic fields, OU has its stronghold in natural science majors (Engineering, Robotics, Med, etc.) but the array of departments is still limited compared to US colleges. And social sciences and humanity majors aren’t shed as much light on as their natural science counterparts.
But I’m currently in the School of Human Sciences, which is quite rare in Japan, so I’d say OU might be a great choice for those interested in Socio, Anthropology, Kyosei studies etc. These are available in English for undergrad level only. And at the undergrad level, we tend not to dive so deep into 1 particular field say, Socio for example.

In my experience, the academic journal database at OU is really limited. I can only access JSTOR and ProQuest for free, which imposes lots of restrictions on how updated my sources will be. Though this might be different for other students who utilize different databases on the uni’s library website, I didn’t receive so much active guidance from my professors regarding these databases.

My EMI program is improving its quality by enhancing requirements from teachers. Even in my case when the program wasn’t improved, I enjoyed the classes since the professors tried to conduct discussion-based classes and make them really interactive and interesting. It’s a way for a Japan-based international student like me to mingle with exchange students of varied backgrounds and Japanese students. I wanna note that I’m from Vietnam and prior to studying at OU my education has been a public one. That is to say, I view my current experience at OU as a definite improvement from my high school education. Some of my classmates who used to go to international schools and study AP or IB remarked that the level of the classes might not have been an upgraded version from their high school experience since they’re quite introductory.

I think the treatment for international students is good in general (in terms of accommodation assistance, language support, etc.) because of the good operation of International College. But I feel that we’re just co-existing with Japanese students without really penetrating into the life and impacting their international outlook. Some classes regarding cross-cultural understanding can be quite awkward and not really helpful because of the poor execution. Regardless, the Japanese can be friendly enough.
I got to know my current Japanese close friends and senpais by actively participating in clubs and circles at school. I think cultural exchange might not be problematic, but internationalization initiatives can be more rigorous to make the international student community more salient.