To train as a nurse, students can study both at universities and vocational schools. The role of the nursing university is to equip human resources with superior nursing skills, while developing nursing science and creating new nursing technology. In the present age, nurses are expected to be highly specialized and creative, and I urge students to know what they want to learn at university. I am responsible for postgraduate nursing education, and am always studying what it means to become and grow as a nurse, so that I may teach nurses who are highly professional and creative. I do not only wish to teach so that my students, nurses in the making, will be satisfied with what they have learnt, but I want them to gain the conviction to act as leaders and also advance the careers of other nurses once they are working in a hospital or other health-related facility.
This university’s history started with its establishment in 1920 as the highest level nursing educational institution in Japan at the time. It has since passed through various stages, became the first educational institution in Japan to start a postgraduate doctoral program in nursing, to its present position as a leading university in nursing education. As a so-called “nursing pioneer,” it is a driving force behind nursing education, and has the facilities to teach the basics for application in various nursing careers.
To become a nurse, one does not only need nursing knowledge and skills, but also underlying qualities like tenderness, a caring heart, dignity and refinement. Acquiring these elements means to grow as a person. Through the discipline of nursing, one learns all the things that are really worthwhile to know as a human being. And by working as a nurse, one has the opportunity to impart this knowledge to others. I truly wish that students will look toward the future of healthcare and the ideal image of what a nurse should be, as each deepens their understanding of nursing.

MATSUTANI Miwako Dean, Professor