There is an increase in the need to foster specialized skills necessary for professional work in today's society where competition has intensified on the personal, business, national regional and international level. Moreover, the fluidity of employment has changed the career formation in which new graduates used to be trained through company education. Hence, there is demand for graduate schools of social sciences to train specialists and professionals based on the feedback from society and practice. The establishment of a professional graduate school reflects such demand.

In addition, the demand for the improvement in specialized and practical skills has also increased for better formulation and implementation of international and public policies in international organizations, national governments, local governments and NGO/NPOs. Policies that are designed from the perspective of one country or one region are insufficient in this globalized era. Against the backdrop of questions being raised on the role and responsibility of the public sector, it has become necessary to nurture future leaders with advanced and specialized analytical skills with a wide range of knowledge in law, economics and international relations. Moreover, in the age of meritocracy, an individual's true ability is being tested in an organization.

In order to adapt to these changes, our university has established a professional graduate school, School of International and Public Policy, in collaboration with the Graduate School of Law and Graduate School of Economics, and aims to foster leaders that are able to identify relevant public policy problems and find their solutions. In achieving this goal, we will be guided by the following four basic principles.

Hitotsubashi University has achieved many accomplishments concerning research on public policy and has created an excellent research environment in Japan. In the field of economic analysis, our project, "Normative Evaluation and Social Choices in Contemporary Economic System", was selected as the 21st century COE Program. This project is contributing to the formation of a centre for research on economic institutions and policy. Moreover, the "Asian Public Policy Program" that started in 2000 has been conducting specialized education to improve policy-making and decision-making abilities of international students, selected mainly from the public sector of Asian countries, and has steadily achieved tangible results.

In the fields of pubic law and global governance, we have advanced research on governance principle, administrative reform, policies on environment, science, and technology, and business tax system. Moreover, we have achieved notable results not only as a centre for research on theories, history, and legal institutions of international society, but also by actively proposing policies concerning international relations. Furthermore, our university was chosen as the academic centre for EU Institute in Japan (EUIJ), the first of its kind in Asia, which was initiated and supported by the European Commission. In April 2009, EU Studies Institute (EUSI) succeeded EUIJ and continues to hold a variety of programs and conferences on EU studies.

Founded on the above basic principle, the objective of the School of International and Public Policy is, first and foremost, to bridge the gap between the latest research on domestic and international public policy and their practice, and to promptly address problems and issues that arise in practice in our education and research activity. More specifically, the program aims to conduct an advanced education for professionals through the collaboration with practitioners on challenges in the fields of governance system reform, macro financial and monetary policies, taxation system, social welfare, local government finance, policies on environment, science, and technology, the UN and regional conflict and reconstruction assistance, Japan's ODA policies, and economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Public policy is a multi-dimensional process. After a complex political process, policy-proposals are made based on scientific analysis, institutionalized as treaties, laws and ordinances, and then implemented. Therefore, the policy and decision makers in international organizations, national and local governments and NGO/NPOs must have general knowledge of law, international relations and economics, as well as advanced and specialized knowledge in a certain field. Nurturing such policy/decision makers is consistent with the tradition of Hitotsubashi University, a school that has strived to "Integrate Social Sciences" as its mission and has produced many professionals with specialized knowledge grounded on a broad understanding of social science.

The 2nd basic principle of the School of International and Public Policy is to place an emphasis on the cross-cutting aspect of policy research among law, international relations and economics. In order to realize this principle, not only does the program offer interdisciplinary courses, but also accept cross admissions, namely, graduates from the Faculty of Economics into our International and Public Administration course and graduates from the Faculty of Law or International Relations to our Public Economics course. Moreover, the program offers lectures that analyze one policy issue from various different perspectives including law, international relations and economics.

The 3rd basic principle of the School of International and Public Policy is to aim for multi-faceted and practical policy analysis. To do so, the program will train students' ability to evaluate the effects of policies from the practical point of view, by collaborating with not only practitioners and staff members of government organizations but also international organizations, local governments, private companies, economic associations, think-tanks and NGO/NPOs.

The program also emphasizes the improvement in practical ability to analyze the subject matter, including the structure of international society, the process of diplomatic negotiation, domestic legal institutions and legislative process, and the circumstances and policy effect of national and international economy. To do so, students will be encouraged to initiate a project on policy effects and will be guided by faculty members to acquire a practical sense of policy formulation and implementation. Furthermore, the program also places an emphasis on the re-education of professionals with previous work experiences, and will offer a stimulating environment that will foster new perspectives among the students.

The 4th basic principle of the School of International and Public Policy is to collaborate with overseas policy research institutes in the fields of research and education. The university aims to form a research and education centre for international and public policies in the Asia-Pacific region by incorporating the "Asian Public Policy Program" (originally a Master's course for Graduate School for International Corporate Strategy) and the "Asia-Pacific International Relations Program" (originally a part of the Graduate School of Law) into the School of International and Public Policy. The school is accepting many international students from the countries of the Asia-Pacific region to train future leaders in the region. To do so, the school conducts classes in English for international students. The school also trains Japanese students so that they will be able to analyze policies from a global perspective and to become leaders that will play an active role in the world.

Based on these four basic principles, the School of International and Public Policy aims to foster leaders with the following qualities: Firstly, individuals who have learnt the analytical methods of either law, international relations and economics as professionals of public policy; secondly, those who can understand the analytical methodology of related professional fields so as to be able to respond to complex issues; thirdly, individuals who can conduct policy analysis and make practical policy proposals, in domestic and foreign government activities or the local society, and have the ability to persuade others that their proposals should be implemented as actual policy; lastly, leaders who will play an active role in policy-making in the world.

Some of the career paths for graduates of this program are civil servants in Japanese local and central government, international civil servants in the U.N., World Bank, and IMF, as well as economic associations, think-tanks, NGO/NPOs, and private sector companies. Moreover, possible career paths for international students include government organizations in their home countries. The objective of this program is to create opportunities so that graduates can contribute to policymaking from a wide range of careers.