Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Degree Regulations
January 1, 2004
Regulation No. 579
Chapter 1: General Provisions(Purpose)
Article 1
These regulations stipulate matters concerning academic degrees and the conferment thereof, other than those
stipulated in the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University University Regulations (hereinafter “UniversityRegulations.”)(Degree Types)
Article 2This University shall award Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral degrees.
(Titles of Departments)
Article 3
The degree titles in Japanese and English to be appended to Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral degrees in eachundergraduate department and graduate school major are set forth below.

(1) Bachelor Degrees
CollegeDepartment

DegreeDegree Title in English

College of Asia Pacific

Department of Asia Pacific

学士（アジア太平洋学）

Bachelor of SocialStudies

StudiesCollege of International

Department ofManagement

International Management

Science
学士（経営学）

Bachelor of Business
Administration(2) Master Degrees
Graduate SchoolMajor
Major of Asia Pacific

Graduate School ofStudies

Asia Pacific Studies

Major of International
Cooperation Policy

Graduate School ofManagement

Major of Management

Degree修士（アジア太平洋学）
修士（国際協力政策）
修士（経営管理）1/12

Degree Title in English
Master of Science in Asia
Pacific Studies
Master of Science inInternational Cooperation Policy
Master of Business
Administration

(3) Doctoral Degrees
Graduate SchoolMajor

DegreeDegree Title in English

Graduate School of Asia

Major of Asia Pacific

博士（アジア太平洋学）

Doctor of Philosophy in

Pacific Studies

Studies

Asia Pacific Studies(Degree Titles)
Article 4
Those who have been awarded degrees, when using the title of their degree in publications, should include the fulldegree title, including the name of the University.
(Graduation Assessment Committee)
Article 51

This university shall establish a Higher Degrees Committee to discuss awarding graduate degrees and mattersrelated to those degrees (Master’s and Doctoral). The Committee shall include the members listed in thefollowing items:(1) President;(2) Vice Presidents who are Faculty Members;(3) Deans of the Graduate Schools;(4) Deans of Academic Affairs;(5) Other persons recognized as necessary by the President.

2

The President shall convene and chair meetings of the Higher Degrees Committee. If the President is unable tocarry out these duties they shall be carried out by the Vice President in charge of Academic Affairs.

3

At least more than half of the Committee members must be present for the meeting to be held.

4The Committee may require those other than those listed in Paragraph 1 above to attend meetings of theCommittee where necessary.

Chapter 2: Bachelor’s(Requirements for Conferment of Bachelor’s Degrees)
Article 6
Bachelor’s degrees shall be awarded to those who have fulfilled the requirements to graduate from an undergraduate
college of this University, as laid out in Article 30 of the University Regulations.
(Degree Conferral)
Article 7

2/12

Conferment of Bachelor degrees shall be determined by the President following deliberation by the Faculty Council.
(Degree Format)
Article 8
Bachelor’s Degrees shall be formatted as shown in Attachment 1.
Chapter 3: Master’s(Requirements for Conferment of Master’s Degrees)
Article 9
Master’s degrees shall be awarded to those who have fulfilled the requirements to complete a Master’s course at a
graduate school of this University, as laid out in Article 31 of the University Regulations.
(Degree Conferral)
Article 10
Conferment of Master’s degrees shall be determined by the President following deliberation by the Graduate School
Faculty Council and Higher Degrees Committee.
(Degree Format)
Article 11
1Master’s Degrees shall be formatted as shown in Attachment 2.
(Master’s Thesis Committee)

Article 121

Each graduate school shall from a Thesis Committee to review dissertations.

2

Each graduate school shall establish detailed guidelines regarding the format of the Master’s degree thesis andprocedures for review of the theses.
Chapter 4: Doctoral(Requirements for Conferment of Doctoral Degrees)

Article 13
1

Doctoral degrees shall be awarded to those who have fulfilled the requirements to complete a Doctoral course
at a graduate school of this University, as laid out in Article 31-2 of the University Regulations.

2In addition to the preceding paragraph, the doctoral degree shall be conferred on those who have demonstrated
outstanding academic scholarship, equal to or greater than students who have completed the aforementioned
doctoral program, and successfully passed a thesis examination performed by an APU graduate school.
(Application for Conferral)

3/12

Article 14
1

Application for Doctoral degree conferral shall be submitted via the doctoral dissertation submission procedure
set by the Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies (GSAD) before final submission to the President.
(Degree Conferral)Article 15
Conferment of Doctoral degree shall be determined by the President following deliberation from the Graduate
School Faculty Council and Higher Degrees Committee.
(Degree Format)
Article 16
Doctoral Degrees shall be formatted as shown in Attachment 4.
(Doctoral Dissertation Committee)
Article 17
1

The Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies shall establish a Doctoral Dissertation Committee to review
dissertations.

2

The Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies shall establish detailed guidelines regarding the format of thedoctoral dissertation and procedures for review of the dissertation.
Chapter 5: Revocation of Degrees(Cancellation of Degree Conferral)

Article 18
A degree already conferred may be revoked if the recipient thereof is found to have obtained it by improper means,or has engaged in conduct harmful to the degree’s reputation, following deliberation by the Faculty Council in thecase of Bachelor degrees, and by the Graduate School Faculty Council and the Higher Degrees Committee in thecase of Master and Doctor degrees.

Chapter 6: Publication, Storage, and Reporting of Dissertations(Publication of Doctoral Dissertation Abstracts)
Article 19
When a doctoral degree is conferred, the President will publish online an abstract of the dissertation content and therecord of doctoral dissertation screening within 3 months of the conferral date.
(Publication of Doctoral Dissertations)
Article 20

4/12

1

Those who have been awarded doctoral degrees must publish the full text of their dissertation via theUniversity’s repository within one year of the conferral of their degree. However this requirement does not
apply if the text was already published before conferral of the doctoral degree.

2Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, if unavoidable circumstances prevent the publication of the full textof the doctoral dissertation, the President can approve that it be replaced with a summary of the dissertation
content. In such a case, the President must be provided with a copy of the full text of the dissertation for
examination.

3

When publishing a doctoral dissertation pursuant to provisions of the preceding paragraph, it must clearly bestated that the dissertation is a doctoral dissertation from this University.
(Storage of Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations)

Article 21
Master’s theses and Doctoral dissertations shall be stored by the university, unless otherwise specified.
(Reporting)
Article 22
When the President confers a doctoral degree, they shall submit the prescribed degree conferral report to the Ministerof Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology from within three months of the date of conferral.

Chapter 7: Regulations for Amendments and Deletions(Revision and Deletion of Regulations)
Article 23
Amendments and deletions of these Regulations shall be made by the President upon deliberation by the University
Senate Meeting.
Supplementary provision
These regulations shall take effect from January 20, 2004; however, it shall also apply to Fall 2002 and Spring2003 graduates.
Supplementary provision (amendment due to partial revisions affecting changes in office duties and applications
for Doctoral degree conferral in the “AY 2005 Management/Operation Reform,” February 7, 2006)
These regulations shall take effect on February 7, 2006, and apply from April 1, 2005.
Supplementary provision (amendment due to partial revisions in the change of the degree name for the College ofInternational Management and changes in distribution of office duties, January 27, 2009)
These regulations shall take effect from April 1, 2009.

5/12

(Transitional measures for degrees in the Department of Asia Pacific Management, College of Asia PacificManagement) For Bachelor’s degrees (College of Asia Pacific Management), notwithstanding the modified
provisions of Article 3-1, students who enrolled in the college as of March 31, 2009 shall continue until they nolonger are registered in this college.
Supplementary provision (amendment due to partial revisions caused by addition of program name to degree for
Master’s in International Cooperation Policy Health Management Program, September 8, 2009)
These regulations shall take effect from September 8, 2009.
Supplementary provision (amendment due to addition of course name to degree, September 11, 2012)
These regulations shall take effect from September 21, 2012. However, the previous regulations will apply tothose who enrolled prior to March 31, 2011, those who enrolled or transferred into their second year after March31, 2012, or those who enrolled or transferred into their third year after March 31, 2013.
Supplementary provision (amendment due to partial change in degree rules, March 18, 2014)
These regulations shall take effect from March 18, 2014. However, the revised Articles 19 and 20 will only
apply to those who are awarded their Doctoral degree after April 1, 2013.
Supplementary provision (amendment due to change in diploma style, March 18, 2014)
These regulations shall take effect from April 1, 2014; however, the previous regulations shall still apply to those
who enrolled before March 31, 2014.
Supplementary provision (amendment due to deletion of articles related to degree screening fees, March 17, 2015)
These Regulations shall take effect from April 1, 2015.
Supplementary provision (amendment of the University Regulations and the Academic Regulations, February 4,2020)
These Regulations shall take effect from April 1, 2020.

6/12

Attachment 1

7/12

Attachment 2

8/12

Attachment 3- 1 Deleted

9/12

Attachment 4-1 (Relating to Article 13 Paragraph 1)

10/12

Attachment 4-2 (Relating to Article 13 Paragraph 2)

11/12

This English document is a translation of the original Japanese document and is for reference only.
If any differences between the Japanese text and the English translation may appear, the Japanese
text shall prevail in all aspects.

12/12