Faculty overview

Tradition and achievements as the first Faculty of Psychology established in the Tokyo metropolitan area

Surely everyone has thought at least once about things like, "I want to know more about my own and other people's personalities," "I want to build better relationships," "I want to help people who are troubled," "I want to live a life that doesn't give in to stress," etc. Psychology is the study that answers these familiar questions by helping us understand the mechanisms and workings of the mind and apply them to our lives.
Rissho University 's Faculty of Psychology was established in 2002 as the first Faculty of Psychology in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and has a history and tradition of nurturing many talented people. Faculty of Psychology at Rissho University has two departments: the Department of Clinical Psychology, where students learn specialized knowledge and skills to support people with worries and problems, and the Department of Interpersonal and Social Psychology, where students study the laws of the mind that underlie human relationships and society.
The Department of Clinical Psychology focuses on training psychological counselors, and students can learn practical content such as counseling and psychological assessment. Approximately 500 students have progressed to graduate schools designated for clinical psychologists so far. The Department of Interpersonal and Social Psychology focuses on developing interpersonal communication skills, and students can learn presentation skills, leadership training, stress management, and more. Making use of these learning experiences, many students find employment in customer service and human service-related positions, as well as in human resource management and other departments.

Characteristics of education

In the Department of Psychology established in the Faculty of Letters and the Faculty of Education, you will study subjects other than psychology, but since our university is not a "Department of Psychology" but a "Faculty of Psychology", many of the curriculum consists of psychology subjects, so you can study psychology broadly and deeply.
In the Department of Clinical Psychology, students learn knowledge and skills in a wide range of psychological support, including health care, welfare, education, justice and crime, and industry and labor. The Department of Clinical Psychology has the largest number of full-time faculty members who are active in the field as clinical psychologists at universities in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Therefore, one of the major features is that you can learn about practical mental health care through practical training and exercises.
The Department of Interpersonal and Social Psychology is the first department in Japan to study the laws of the mind behind human relationships and social phenomena. The content of study includes courses aimed at acquiring interpersonal communication skills, as well as specialized courses in interpersonal and social psychology, such as those related to one's own mental characteristics and states, one-on-one relationships, groups, and culture. Through these studies, students will cultivate human skills, interpersonal skills, social skills, and international human skills.
Since both departments have a large number of faculty members, we have a support system for student education, such as teaching in small seminars. In addition, active learning is actively used to acquire psychological research methods, to empirically understand the attitude of a counselor, and to acquire practical skills in human relations. The Department of Clinical Psychology emphasizes learning through experience, such as role-playing counseling situations and analyzing one's own personality using actual psychological tests. In the Department of Interpersonal and Social Psychology, there are classes to learn skills to play an active role in society, such as leadership training in which students learn about roles and cooperation through group activities, and presentation skills training in which students acquire effective presentation skills using a computer.

Learning content that meets the needs of society and careful instruction in small groups

We actively incorporate the needs of society, such as the training of certified psychologists, a specialized qualification for providing psychological support, and English conversation programs that respond to the age of globalization.
In addition, the Department of Clinical Psychology has many faculty members who specialize in medical clinical psychology, school clinical psychology, welfare clinical psychology, industrial clinical psychology, etc. Furthermore, the Department of Interpersonal and Social Psychology has faculty members who research fields that there are few opportunities to study at other universities, such as stereotype psychology, love psychology, mind control psychology, and consumer psychology. Therefore, you can study the psychology you want to study in a small seminar format.

• Planned to correspond to certified psychologist training curriculum

  Starting in fiscal 2018, we are planning to support the curriculum for training certified psychologists, which is Japan's first national qualification for psychological support professionals (occupations that perform tasks such as psychological counseling and psychological testing). Both the Department of Clinical Psychology and the Department of Interpersonal/Social Psychology are making preparations to enhance support for students aiming to become certified psychologists.

• First-year education through small-group seminars

  In order to help students quickly adapt to university studies, we hold small seminar classes in the first year. The content allows students to participate independently in the classes, which leads to active interaction between students, and because they are close to the instructors, they can learn deeply from their first year with careful guidance.

• Learning English conversation with overseas students

  Faculty of Psychology unique international exchange program includes English conversation lessons with students from overseas. In collaboration with Mindanao International University in the Philippines, students will learn English conversation using Skype. This will not only help students improve their English skills, but also allow them to learn about the values of different cultures.

• Rich experiment and training environment

  The university is well-equipped with facilities necessary for education and research, such as the "Psychological Center for Psychotherapy and Counseling" where actual counseling is provided to local residents, the "Psychology Laboratory," which is equipped to conduct specialized psychological research, and the "Social Psychological Survey Laboratory." Although the campus is conveniently located in the city center, it is also equipped with facilities for practical training and experiments.

Objectives related to human resource development and other educational and research objectives / Educational goals / Three policies

Faculty of Psychology has the objective of cultivating talented individuals who have specialized knowledge and skills in psychology and can contribute widely to society, as well as other educational and research objectives.

In order to achieve this, we have established and published the following integrated set of "Educational Objectives," "Policy for Graduation Certification and Degree Awarding (Diploma Policy)," "Policy for Composing and Implementing the Educational Course (Curriculum Policy)," and "Policy for Accepting Students (Admission Policy)," as follows: