April 2025 marked the 20th anniversary of the School of International and Public Policy (IPP). Founded in 2005, IPP has been serving as a professional graduate school with the goal of nurturing experts in international and public policy. It is a new type of graduate school that emphasizes both theory and practice, and we have gone through a lot of trial and error. With great effors of our faculty and staff, we have been able to send many excellent graduates out into society.
     Hitotsubashi University has the mission of "creating intellectual and cultural assets that contribute to the construction of free and peaceful political and economic societies in Japan and the world, and nurturing those who will carry them forward."  As a professional school that plays a part in this mission, we hope to continue to nurture leaders who can tackle various social issues in the world with full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. 
     This year, we are planning several commemorative events to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We would like to trace the footprint of our education so far and lay the foundation for further development in the future. On this site, we will look back on the past 20 years and provide information about this year's commemorative events. 
     Currently, Japanese national universities have been suffering from gradual reduction of national government's subsidies for operating expenses every year, and are being encouraged to make self-help efforts to secure financial resources. The IPP budget has also been reduced. In order to continue our efforts to nurture those who can solve various social problems in Japan and the world, we would like to ask you for your kind financial support to the IPP Fund. 
     In 2025, we would like to call for donations to the fund as a 20th anniversary fundraiser (Fundraising Site) in oder to strengthen our financial sustainability of education at IPP.  We set our taget to collect 10 million yen by the end this fiscal year (March 2026). The donation would strengthen our financial sustainability to maintain and expand high-quality education at IPP.
   We would be extremely grateful to alumni and their families, retired faculty and staff, companies that have a relationship with our school through the dispatch and recruitment of employees and staff, and everyone who would like to support our educational activities, for their donations to support our school. Since donations will be made through the Hitotsubashi University Fund, there are tax benefits for those who file taxes in Japan.
     We also would like to continue to improve our endowment by cooperations with companies and organizations. Hitotsubashi University has a system to receive financial and human support from companies in the form of "endowed lectures." As IPP will continue to improve education through social collaboration, we would like to consider having "endowed lectures."  If you are interested in providing them, please feel free to contact the IPP office.
     Building on the foundation of the past 20 years, we will continue to work for further improvement and development of professional education in Japan. 
 
Shinji Yamasige,
Dean of the School of International and Public Policy,
Hitotsubashi University