[Lectures and Research]
First-year students in the five-year doctoral course have lectures in the morning every day. In the afternoon, they individually will have laboratory seminars or research instruction in laboratories. Second-year students and above will give more attention to the latter. At the laboratory, students will receive intense research instruction with many researchers.

[Mutual communication]
In SOKENDAI, university-wide events such as student seminars and SOKENDAI lectures are held at the Hayama Headquarters in Kanagawa Prefecture. Those events promote friendship between students and staff from different schools and departments, including the humanities and the social sciences. It is also easy to have relationships with not only SOKENDAI students in other departments but also with students from partner graduate schools, such as those Nagoya University, Hokkaido University, Toyama University, and Gifu University. There also are many foreign students and visiting researchers from overseas at NIFS, and English is commonly used for communication.

[Living environment]
NIFS is in a typical Japanese local city, one which has a long history well known through the production of the famous Mino ceramic ware. A good natural environment mixes with convenient urban life, thus students can concentrate on their research at NIFS. And because rent is relatively lower than in metropolitan areas, students can possibly study with a lighter financial burden by using financial support programs. Please see our student life here.  Also see the messages from current students and graduates.