Asia Pacific University (APU) has a unique multi-cultural and dual-language (English and Japanese) education system set in an international environment. AU exchange students can take classes from either the Asia Pacific Studies (APS) or Asia Pacific Management (APM) tracks. It is not necessary for international exchange students to have any pre-existing knowledge of Japanese in order to study at APU. The campus is located in the city of Beppu on the island of Kyushu, which is famous for its hot springs. This exchange opportunity is a great way to add an Asian Pacific focus to your studies.

APU welcomes exchange students for one academic year or either the Fall semester (September - January) or the Spring semester (April - July).

They have two undergraduate colleges of Asia Pacific Studies (APS) and Asia Pacific Management (APM). APS offers studies in specialized areas including City and Environment, Tourism and Information Media. APM covers all aspects of Marketing, Production, Finance and Accounting, Human Resource Management and IT.

A unique feature of APU is that lectures are taught in both English and Japanese in both colleges. APU is proud to be one of the few universities in Japan offering this capacity. All exchange students are therefore able to study subjects in their major fields and areas of interest in Japanese, English or both.

For Japanese language students APU is attractive in that although they are an "international" university, the predominant language of communication is Japanese. The administrative body, executives and 2/3 of both the student body and faculty are Japanese natives or Japanese speakers.  Specialist Japanese courses on offer are also extremely valuable to students of Japanese and these can be taken alongside regular subjects taught in Japanese. In addition to the 4 X 95 minutes of intensive Japanese language instruction per week, advanced students can select courses in interpreting, teaching of Japanese as a foreign language and business Japanese.

As an exchange student from American University, there is no limit to the number of courses participants may select.  However, APU recommends that study schedules are not too overloaded so that each individual can enjoy extra-curricular activities and absorb as much of the culture outside of the classroom as possible. Under the current system depending on the year of study, regular APU students elect a maximum of 18 to 24 credits per semester. In addition, exchange students are not restricted to choosing courses from within their college of enrollment and may register for courses from either APS or APM.

For more information, please contact Heidi Ashton at (202)885-1633 or by email: hashton@american.edu

Please consider applying for these scholarship opportunities. Our students have successfully earned one or more of these scholarships for their study abroad semester(s) in Japan:
  Freeman ASIA, http://www.iie.org/programs/Freeman-ASIA/
  Bridging Scholarship, http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/Bridging/scholarships.html