Tokyo University of the Arts was founded in May 1949 under the National School Establishment Law (Act No. 150 of 1949) through a merger of Tokyo Fine Arts School (currently the Faculty of Fine Arts) and Tokyo Music School (currently the Faculty of Music). At the time of its establishment, the university comprised ten departments in two faculties, the Faculty of Fine Arts (Departments of Painting, Sculpture, Crafts, Architecture, and Aesthetics and Art History), the Faculty of Music (Departments of Composition, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Conducting, and Musicology), as well as the University Library.
The Graduate School comprises four schools; the Graduate School of Fine Arts, the Graduate School of Music, the Graduate School of Film and New Media, and the Graduate School of Global Arts. The university also contains the Music High School and an education and research facility attached to the Faculty of Music.
Degree Programs in English
1. Global Art Practice (GAP), Graduate School of Fine Arts
Through the Global Art Joint Project, the GAP program collaborates with the world’s leading art schools to offer practicums in Japan and the partnering country. In recent years, TUA has partnered with Central Saint Martins (CSM), University of the Arts London, and École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (BAP). The Project consists of lectures, research, workshops, work production, and presentations based on the themes of each unit.
2. Graduate School of Global Arts
Based on the school philosophy of “the bridging of theory and practice,” students are expected to acquire a global perspective and networking methods, which can be achieved by attending introductory and advanced lectures on basic and applied theories, project-based practical seminars, and seminars by guest speakers, leading practitioners and theorists in Japan and abroad.
The program enables students to understand cultural and social situations that lie behind art events all over the world, and to study cultural policies and cultural economics that support relations between the arts and society, while learning to actually plan and implement cultural projects.
