Akita International University

Small, discussion-based, classes with Japanese students and other exchange students will allow you to gain a greater understanding of different worldviews and cultures.

AIU offers 10 levels of core Japanese, with a placement test offered during orientation, as well as skill and practice courses at the upper levels. Students studying at AIU for an academic year, including the Winter Intensive Program, can earn 18 credit hours of Japanese language. In addition to small class sizes, internationally experienced professors, and extracurricular study opportunities, graduate students from AIU’s “Japanese Language Teaching Practices” program and tutors from the Academic Achievement Center are eager to work with exchange students one-on-one.AIU’s Japan Studies courses are designed to provide a scholarly and experiential perspective that will deepen personal insight into the nature of Japanese culture, society, and sensibilities. The curriculum has expanded to include a wider range of locally focused courses that invite careful consideration across multiple academic disciplines, incorporating analysis from political, legal, international, economic, historical, anthropological, religious, cultural, and aesthetic viewpoints. Course options enable students to perceive connections among current popular culture phenomena and the more traditional cultural roots from which these artifacts spring. Topics include everything from Akita studies and traditional arts, such as anime and manga, and the traditional arts of sado (tea ceremony) and kado (flower arrangement), to advanced courses in Contemporary Japanese Economy or Japan-U.S. Relations.

AIU’s business program gives students a firm grounding in economic theory as well as practical education in in-demand skills, like marketing, leadership, OxMetrics and Big Data analysis of current market conditions. Students will use examples from Japanese media and current events to get an inside perspective on Japanese economics and business while studying Japanese Business Culture, Japanese Finance and Practices under Globalization, and Contemporary Japanese Economy. AIU’s Global Studies Program has three concentrations: East Asian Studies, North American Studies, and Transnational Studies.

AIU utilizes a 4.0 GPA, similar to HPU, and has a 15-week semester to align with university systems around the world. Credits are valued one-to-one with HPU's credits.For High Point University to recognize the credits you complete abroad, you must earn at least a grade equivalent to a C in the U.S. HPU will not accept credit for courses with grades of C– or below. Grades for all courses earned abroad are recorded on the international transcript. Credits are received by HPU as transfer credits, which means the credit is received but the grade is not. Your HPU grade point average will not be impacted positively or negatively by your study abroad courses.