Bachelor of International Liberal Arts: Global Business and Economics

Within the major of Global Business and Economics, the course offerings allow students to choose between a more applied (Global Business) emphasis and a more social-science oriented (Economics) emphasis. Both are embedded in a liberal arts approach that stresses the humane point of view, criticality, social responsibility, and intellectual depth. Students take a minimum number of foundation courses in both business and economics, so as to acquire a good grounding in basic theory and knowledge of the real world, before they go on to build, with much flexibility, a major most suited to their individual interests and possible career inclinations.

Why study Global Business and Economics

Business and economic activities are an important part of modern life. Complex, challenging and rewarding, these often highly specialized activities take place within certain cultural, social, and legal contexts. Participants of these activities, either as professionals in the field or intelligent citizens in other fields, stand much better chances of success in their chosen career paths if they are equipped with relevant advanced training through focused studies, and with a broad knowledge base that helps them to understand the contexts.

Register for iCLA's April 6th Virtual Open Campus

Choose liberal arts. In Japan.

The International College of Liberal Arts (iCLA) is a four- year, American style liberal arts college where the primary language of instruction is English. Students can choose from a wide array of courses as part of an innovative curriculum which leads to a bachelor’s degree in International Liberal Arts. Just 90 minutes west of Tokyo, iCLA combines a multi-cultural learning environment with a beautifully traditional Japanese setting in the shadow of Mt Fuji. iCLA offers students the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the very essence of Japanese culture, whilst acquiring a contemporary and globally relevant education at our state of the art facilities. Register for iCLA's April 6th 2024 Virtual Open Campus All iCLA undergraduate students share a liberal arts college curriculum experience in studying towards our innovative Bachelor of International Liberal Arts degree. The iCLA curriculum was designed to cultivate critical, creative, independent, and global thinking. iCLA students learn how to acquire and analyze knowledge in order to create their own answers to age-old questions.

Our residential campus provides a cross-cultural living experience, ensuring that the themes of internationalization and globalization run throughout life at iCLA, not just in the classroom. Small interactive classes are at the core of our pedagogical approach. Low faculty-to-student ratios foster close connections between instructors and students and enhance communication and collaboration among students themselves.

The first-year common experience includes a focus on foundation courses and omnibus courses that is a great way for students to find what is interesting for them and make an informed decision on their major area of study.

In the second year, students take a closer look at their major while taking a variety of courses and experiential learning workshops. The traditional majors in Global Business and Economics and Political Science are enriched by integration with courses in Data Science, Psychology, and Sociology providing depth and breadth. Courses in Arts, Music, Language Arts, Performing Arts, are given a symbiotic relationship in the majors of Japan Studies and Interdisciplinary Arts. The unique nature of Humanities is brought out by “design your own major” philosophy where students can choose a wide variety of courses from different disciplines and design their own major.

In the third year, students have a good sense of their field of specialization and can pursue an in-depth study in their major area of study. Students can take study abroad experience (optional for International students) in one of over 60 partner schools spread across 30 countries.

In the final year, the senior seminar and Graduation Research Project (GRP) are the focus of study. GRP allows students to showcase their writing, critical thinking and problem-solving skills they have learned during college. Students develop independent thinking by discussing and sharing their research with the peer group and get ready to decide next steps after college.