Departments

Midwifery is a profession that supports female health, including normal childbirth assistance and child rearing support.
Japanese midwifery education is now in a state of reform, from faculty to graduate school. Since the foundation of our university, we have trained midwives in the undergraduate department; we expanded our educational program to include the master’s degree course in the graduate school in 2006, earlier than any other schools. We then established a doctoral degree course in 2009, and are currently the only university in Japan to confer a doctoral degree in midwifery. We play a role in promoting midwife education in Japan, and send many graduates on to educational or clinical practice.

The master’s program offers two courses, one for candidates for state certification and the other for already-certified students. The educational curriculum includes compulsory programs in reproductive health/rights or women’s health, and elective specialty subjects such as preparation for the midwife national examination, training in normal delivery assistance, mother’s milk child care support, mother and child health practice in foreign countries, and education and study subject courses. In our master’s course, we pursue the basics of study, and train personnel with high practical capability who can be active as independent obstetrical teachers in various clinical or educational situations.

Japan has a long history of obstetrical practice, and practical expertise worthy of pride in the global community, but the study of midwifery has just begun. This university, as one which confers doctoral degrees in midwifery, aims to foster researchers who can enhance this practical capability, or contribute to study supporting clinical and educational studies and the happiness of women, children, and families.