The Discovery Program offers an interdisciplinary, open curriculum. Students consult their advisors and select courses from a wide range of disciplines, combining them to fit their own academic interests and future goals. The Discovery students can take courses offered by the Program in English as well as the courses offered in Japanese by the University’s other faculties and departments.
Graduation Requirements
Course Categories and GDP Course Descriptions
Senior Project and Tracks
Graduation Requirements
To graduate, you must earn at least 124 credits and must complete a year-long Senior Project.
Discipline-specific courses offered by the Discovery Program and other faculties are called Senmon Kyoiku (a.k.a. Senmon) or “Major”. Kyoyo or General Education courses including language courses are also offered. Most Kyoyo courses are offered in Japanese but various courses are offered in English as well.
The breakdown of the number of credits you need to accumulate for each course category is shown below.
| 科目区分 Course Category |
必修 Required |
選択必修 Required Elective |
自由選択 Elective |
Total | ||
| 教養教育 General Education | 3 | 11 | 14 | 28 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 専門教育 Major | 専門基礎 Major Foundational | 共通セミナー Common Seminars | 3 | – | 80 | |
| 基盤科目 Basic Courses | – | 6 | 61 | |||
| ｱｶﾃﾞﾐｯｸ英語 Academic English | – | |||||
| ｱｶﾃﾞﾐｯｸ日本語 Academic Japanese | – | – | ||||
| 専門科目 Major Courses | 基本科目 Fundamental |
– | – | |||
| 課題科目 Subject-Specific |
– | – | ||||
| 実践科目 Practicum |
– | – | ||||
| 卒業研究 Senior Project |
10 | – | ||||
| 専⾨教育⼜は教養教育* Major and/or General Education* |
– | – | 16 | 16 | ||
| Total | 16 | 17 | 91 | 124 | ||
NOTE:
Required: Courses that must be completed by all students.
Required Elective: A category of courses from which a given number of credits must be earned. *Credits earned for Japanese and/or English language courses in 教養教育 (General Education) can be included here.
Course Categories and GDP Course Descriptions
At Okayama University, courses are divided into two categories:
- Kyoyo (General Education): introductory courses (including language courses)
- Senmon (Major): discipline-specific courses
IMPORTANT: Credits accumulated under the Kyoyo category do not carry over to the Senmon category, and vice versa. However, depending on your chosen curriculum, you need to take additional courses (e.g. prerequisites for Senmon courses in science) even if the credits earned may exceed the required number.
Senior Project and Tracks
In the final year of your study, you will conduct a year-long Senior Project. The Senior Project can be conducted either under the supervision of
- Discovery Faculty in English, or
- The members of Participating Faculties in Japanese (or in some cases in English)
The former is called the Discovery Track; the latter is called the Matching Track.
