The Japan ICU Foundation was incorporated in 1948 and, since that time, has worked with International Christian University in its efforts to be an visionary liberal arts university by further strengthening its broadly international and ecumenically Christian dimensions.
International Christian University (ICU), Japan's first four-year liberal arts college and university, from the very beginning has been an institution that aims to educate students in an international setting to be stewards of a just and peaceful world.
Through its academic commitment and emphasis on the individual, ICU has a mission to pursue truth, defend academic freedom and enrich inner freedom. It is a community where people from different nations and cultures live, study and work together. The multicultural and bilingual environment presents unique challenges. However, anyone who finds the effort worthwhile will undoubtedly have a richly rewarding experience.
As ICU's first President, Dr. Hachiro Yuasa, said in his address at ICU's first commencement on March 21, 1957,
"At ICU, internationalism is not just another topic for futile discussion. It is a daily, maturing experience, owing to the opportunities on this campus for international, interracial and intercultural community living. Likewise Christianity at ICU is never identified only with a creed or sectarian scruple. Rather it is a dynamic creative principle governing and enriching our human relations. I thank God that at ICU we have been made humbly conscious that we cannot serve the great cause of social justice and world peace conscientiously and constructively unless we ourselves outgrow our 20th century superstitions and cleanse ourselves of the blackest of human sins, arrogance."
ICU continues to build on this heritage today by maintaining a campus community that emphasizes world peace and social justice. The university's renowned Peace Studies Program is a focal point where the international, interracial, intercultural and inter-religious all come together. Through an emphasis on service-learning, regional dialogue, counseling, social work, gender studies, and environmental studies; social justice continues to be of over-riding concern.
Mission:
The mission of the Japan ICU Foundation is to work with ICU in its efforts to be an visionary liberal arts university by further strengthening its broadly international and ecumenically Christian dimensions.
Vision:
In line with our mission, we aim to help International Christian University develop, recruit and support students and faculty. Through our initiatives and efforts, in concert with ICU, we confirm the crucial importance of a liberal arts education to train students to think rigorously and rationally with a sense of moral responsibility to community and dedication to contribute to society locally, nationally and globally.