MBA Online

Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration at Hokkaido University

Curriculum

Subjects common to All Faculties
In their first year after enrollment, students study “Subjects common to All Faculties” in which they master the fundamentals of economics and business administration before studying more specialized content. Here, a wide variety of academic disciplines are available; Students are exposed to not only the social sciences but the natural sciences and humanities as well.
The first year is crucial in that students acquire the “perspectives and ideas” needed to comprehend social phenomena in a realistic manner. Students are encouraged to learn foreign languages, which are essential for success in a global environment
Specialized Subjects
The study of specialized subjects begins in the second year. For example, second-year students study macroeconomics and microeconomics, and third- and fourth-year students study more advanced content in macroeconomics and microeconomics. The curriculum is designed to facilitate students in acquiring knowledge and ideas in specialized fields in incremental stages.
Intensive and Special Lectures
As economics and business administration rapidly becomes more specialized and diversified, it is more difficult for one university to conduct leading-edge research in all fields.
For this reason, we invite leading researchers, in fields that have not been designated by the curriculums, from other colleges and research institutions to give lectures on an intensive basis. These lectures last about one week and are scheduled for the end of the first half of the academic year.
We also invite policy-making professionals (from various government agencies) and professionals in finance and management (corporate entrepreneurs, financial experts, accountants) to give special lectures several times during the year. This provides students with an opportunity to learn about the realities at the forefront of economics and business administration.
Seminars
The greatest aspect of the curriculum is that seminars are designated as required subjects. All students in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration belong to one set of seminars in their third and fourth years.
As seminars are scheduled at the end of the day, it is possible to extend discussion hours if necessary. The gathering of third- and fourth-year students together in one arena for discussion is rarely seen in other universities; based on their own experiences, senior students offer juniors sage advice on the “graduation thesis” and “job-hunting activities”.
Because the number of seminar students is small, only five to ten per college year, the instructors can offer students firsthand research guidance.
The relationships students cultivate in the seminar — between instructors and students, fellow students, and juniors and seniors —are a valuable asset for every student.
As the summation of research activity during the two-year seminar, as well as confirmation of four years of college life, all students write a graduation thesis. The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration has established the “Graduate Thesis Scholarship Program” in order to reward students who have penned exceptional graduation theses.

The Origin of Seminars

One major characteristic of the educational program at our faculty is the old tradition of small-group education with the seminar as its core. The founder of the seminar system, a system distinguished from lectures, in Japan is believed to be Inazo Nitobe.
Nitobe, the well-known author of “Bushido: The Soul of Japan,” was a graduate of Hokkaido University (formerly the Sapporo Agricultural Institute). Nitobe’s portrait was featured on the 5,000-yen banknote from 1984 to 2004.
In 1895 when Nitobe was the head of the Instruction Department at the Sapporo Agricultural Institute, he adopted the ’seminar’ as something equivalent to the ‘experiment’ in the natural sciences, and incorporated it into liberal arts education as a part of curriculum reform. This was the first time the seminar was adopted in education.

1401: Economic History
Winter Onozuka & Tanimoto
Intorductory class on Economic History, which aims at better understanding of the economic system of the modern society. It covers the following topics; I.Introduction, II.Pre-modern society, III.Early modern society, IV.Modern society, and V.Early modern and modern society of Japan.

The DBA Program

The Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy (ICS), Hitotsubashi University, began offering a doctoral degree program for business executives in October 2002. The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program, which is conducted in English and designed to provide business executives with doctoral-level education, is available at the university’s campus in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

Hitotsubashi ICS offers a DBA degree rather than a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) degree, because a DBA program places more emphasis on business problem-solving and its practical implications, while a PhD degree is intended to provide the necessary theoretical and scientific foundation for an academic career.

The three-year DBA program accepts two categories of students. The first category includes individuals who are graduates of the MBA program at Hitotsubashi ICS. These students are required to spend three years of the program under the supervision of their faculty advisor as full-time students, devoting the second year mostly to doing research and developing their thesis proposals, and the third year to writing their theses.

The second category consists of business practitioners, who have received an MBA degree from other business schools, a Master’s degree other than an MBA, or those deemed qualified by the Admissions Committee for exceptional cases. These students will spend the three years of the program under the supervision of their faculty advisor as part-time students, devoting weekends and winter/spring/summer breaks to doing research and developing their thesis proposals, and writing their theses. DBA candidates in this category may work full-time, but they must maintain residency in Japan while they are enrolled in the DBA program. DBA students in this category may audit MBA courses in the ICS International Business Strategy Program, subject to approval by their advisor and the faculty member teaching the course.

Professor Christina Ahmadjian is Director of the DBA Program. Students may select any member of the ICS faculty as their thesis advisor, contingent on approval by the DBA Program Committee and the faculty member.

For detailed information on admission procedures to the DBA Program at Hitotsubashi ICS, including all submission deadlines, please download the Application Package by clicking the link below (PDF format):

FINA0501 Asian financial institutions

Semester : 1 & 2
For Student of Year : 2 & 3

History and institutional aspects of financial markets in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Singapore and other Asian economies. Regulatory policies and practices.

Comparative Economic Systems (EKU 2278)

Description

The course compares the characteristics and economic institutions of two extreme economic systems: Capitalism and Socialism.

Topics

Analysis nature and role of financial institutions in capitalist and social countries, advantages and disadvantages of both systems based on certain criteria, specific features of contemporary economic systems, banking systems, labor-management relations, and public finance in the United States, East Germany, Western Europe, Japan, and CIS (former Soviet Union).

Objectives

Give students the ability to identify the economic policies of a nation greatly affected by its adopted economic institutions and systems and to identify economic factors that determine a mixed economic system such as life philosophies and values, as well as political factors.

Students are exposed to a global perspective when they participate in our exchange programmes with major international universities or attend summer workshops taught by visiting faculty members from leading institutions abroad. Students from our partner institutions in, for example, Mainland China, Europe, North America, and Japan also come to Hong Kong to take courses at the School of Business, further contributing to a rich and stimulating environment.

Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade (SIFT)

Japanese (Business Japanese) four years

This program is intended to cultivate advanced specialized personnel for foreign economics and trade departments and enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, multinationals and overseas enterprises. Students graduating from this program will be acquainted with the basic concepts and general practices of international trade and economics, while at the same time acquire solid basis of Japanese language and convincing abilities of listening , speaking, reading and writing, especially the ability to apply Japanese language to business field. Moreover, students will have deep understanding of Japanese society and culture and good mastery of English communication skills.

Major courses include: Comprehensive Japanese, Talking in Japanese, Listening, Audio-visual Japanese, Survey of Japan, Japanese Journal Reading, Foreign Economic and Trade Japanese (negotiation), Business Japanese, Finance Japanese, Japanese Writing, Japanese-Chinese Translation, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, International Trade Practices, International Finance, Business Law International, Marketing Rationales, Second Foreign Language.