The former Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences was established in April 2002, which offered a three-year independent, interdisciplinary and comprehensive Doctoral Program based on a wide range of fields given in the Faculty of Letters and the Faculty of Law. The Division of Instructional System Studies (Master’s Program), which was designed to foster e-learning professionals, was founded in April 2006. In April 2008 was established the present Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences (GSSCS) which consists of Master’s Program and Doctoral Program, by reorganizing the former Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences (Doctoral Program), Graduate School of Letters (Master’s Program), Graduate School of Law (Master’s Program), and Division of Instructional System Studies.

The Master’s Program of the GSSCS is composed of five divisions: Law, Policy and Conflict Resolution Studies; Modern Social Human Studies; Cultural Science Studies; Instructional System Studies; Joint Degree Program in Conflict Resolution between Kumamoto University and University of Massachusetts Boston (JDP). The first three divisions offer three, four and six courses respectively: Law, Policy and Conflict Resolution Research Course, Law and Public Policy Practice Course, Conflict Resolution Practice Course; East-Asian Business Communication Specialist Course, Advanced Ethics Research Course, Field-Research Research Course, Cognitive Philosophy and Psychology Research Course; Cultural-Administration and Curator Specialist Course, High School Japanese-language Teaching Specialist Course, English-language Education Specialist Course, History Research Course, Japanese and East-Asian Culture Research Course, Euro-American Culture Research Course. And the JDP was established in April 2021.

The Doctoral Program aims to foster highly specialized professionals and researchers. It comprises three divisions: Human and Social Science Studies, Cultural Science Studies, Instructional System Studies. The first two divisions offer six and four fields respectively: Public Policy Studies, Legal Studies, Conflict Resolution Studies, Advanced Ethics Studies, Field-Research Studies, Cognitive Philosophy and Psychology Studies; English-language Pedagogy Studies, History Studies, Japanese and East-Asian Culture Studies, Euro-American Culture Studies. The Master's and the Doctoral Programs are open to working people and overseas students, as well as those who go on to it from the Master’s Program.

URL: http://ewww.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/dept/social/