In today's corporate world, rapid technological advancements and globalization have led to increasing complexity. Faced with intensifying competition, companies are constantly seeking new strategies to establish a strong presence in the market and meet the needs of their customers. Additionally, there is growing concern for sustainability, prompting companies to enhance efforts to minimize environmental impact. Recruiting and developing talent pose challenges, with a demand for diverse skills and leadership. Furthermore, with the advancement of digitization, leveraging technology sits at the core of corporate management, with decision-making increasingly reliant on data analysis and AI. Adapting to these changes and achieving sustainable growth require companies to strengthen flexibility and innovation while fulfilling their social responsibilities.

The Degree Program in Business Administration that the University of Tsukuba provides was established to respond to what businesspeople are so fervently seeking. We launched our program in April 2020 through the reorganization of our Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Systems Management, with the aim of offering recurrent education to working adults. The previous Master’s Program was established in 1989 as part of the first nighttime graduate school for working adults offered by a national university, and it produced over 700 graduates. The Doctoral Program, established in 1996, awarded over 150 doctorates. Our reborn Degree Program in Business Administration carries on the tradition spanning three decades, including an environment that facilitates study for working adults, along with unique education and research systems.

Our program focuses on the core fields of management studies, such as business strategy and organization, marketing, accounting, and finance, and on the analytical foundation supporting them, such as statistics and computer science-related disciplines. As exemplified by DX (digital transformation), information technology, statistics and data science are becoming increasingly important in the business arena. Our program is aimed at fostering underlying strengths needed for implementing management at deeper levels and providing systems and analytics that are conducive to such management, solidly grounded in facts and figures.

In both of our subprograms, the Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Business Administration, we place great emphasis not only on coursework but also on thesis research. Three faculty members, one principal instructor and two assistant instructors, are assigned to each student for guidance in the course of research. Through thesis research, students learn how to express their thoughts in a logical way and prepare supporting evidence. The subprograms employ theoretically- and academically-corroborated approaches to developing the capability to gain practically valuable insights independently. With the specialized knowledge acquired in the Program, some of our graduates find new employment as experts or in the academic community, while others advance to higher management positions.

Acquiring the most up-to-date knowledge and skills in new domains is indispensable in order to play a key role in the business world over the long term. Some fields of expertise are difficult to learn on one’s own; these topics may require putting oneself in an environment in which one can interact with teachers and instructors specialized in those areas and fellow students who learn the subjects together. Capitalizing on our thirty years of experience, our Degree Program will continue to provide a venue for higher-quality recurrent education. We hope to have the opportunity to learn with you all!

Tadahiko Sato
Business Administration Program Leader