12 Best Nursing Master's Degree Programs in Japan for 2024

Enrollment limit: 8 people Course term: 2 years Degree: Master’s (Nursing) * Cultivates human resources who will serve as practical instructors that engage in in-hospital education and management at places like medical institutions

Focusing on specific issues in nursing practice, we will develop problem-solving abilities and develop human resources who can demonstrate the following abilities in practice. 1. Ability to carry out highly specialized nursing practices 2. Ability to implement reforms to improve the quality of nursing 3. Ability to coordinate and manage for enhanced care among diverse stakeholders 4. Ability to reform nursing services based on a comprehensive perspective and high ethical standards 5. Ability to take charge of guidance for juniors in various specialized fields This graduate school has three specialized nurse courses, "Chronic Nursing", "Pediatric Nursing", and "Cancer Nursing". Each course has the ability to carry out activities such as outstanding nursing practice in the field of nursing, education for nurses, consultation with care providers, coordination of stakeholders, research in practice, and ethical coordination. Nurture. We have set a group of subjects required for studying each of the three specialized nurse courses, and by taking these courses, we have taken courses equivalent to the specialized subjects of each specialized area.

The goal of our master's program is to train future pioneers in the health, healthcare, and welfare fields, professionals who are broad-visioned, ethical-minded, and are ready to promote the kinds of research and education that emphasize the value of human dignity while working hand-in-hand with various health-related institutions.

Public health nursing is an independent nursing occupation in Japan. All public health nurses (PHNs) are educated as nurses and public health nurses and have licensure as a registered nurse and separate licensure as a PHN. The minimum length of education and training required to receive licensure in Japan is three years for nurses and one year for PHNs. There are various PHN educational programs in Japan, such as graduate school Master’s courses; undergraduate courses; junior college non-degree courses; four-year special training college courses for nurses and PHNs; and one-year PHN schools. Our faculty believes that PHNs should be educated and trained at the graduate level to improve the quality of their practice, so OUNHS was the first school in Japan to establish a Master’s degree PHN course in 2011.

The degree fields in the Master’s program are Fundamental Sciences for Nursing, Synthetic Nursing, Clinical Nursing, Extensive Nursing, and Women’s Health & Midwifery, each composed of one to three study areas. Research courses are offered in each specialty. Certified Nurse Specialist courses (Cancer Nursing, Family Health Nursing, Gerontological Nursing, Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing) are offered in the study areas of Adult Nursing (Chronic), Child Nursing, Gerontological Nursing, and Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. A Certified Nurse Administrator course is offered in Nursing Administration, and an Advanced Practice course is offered in Women’s Health & Midwifery. The Master’s program is designed to develop outstanding nursing researchers and educators, while also training professionals who have advanced knowledge and practical skills who can take on leading roles in nursing practice.

Image of human resources to be trained Human resources who can engage in research aimed at improving and reforming nursing practice, education, and management Human resources who can structurally grasp the dynamics of the place where nursing is provided and work systematically Human resources who have a research perspective and can work on service transformation in collaboration with various occupations and citizens Human resources who can function as nurse leaders and educators in the field of nursing and education

This division enables students to develop their skills to provide quality nursing care based on the most current expertise of medical and nursing care, through collaborations with various types of medical professionals. We aim in particular to train educators and researchers who are able to contribute to the development of nursing science, enhancing their pedagogical capabilities to prepare the next generation of nursing practitioners and to improve the practical abilities of on-site nursing staff.

Midwifery is an independent nursing occupation in Japan. All midwives are educated as nurses and midwives and have licensure as a registered nurse and separate licensure as a midwife. The minimum length of education and training required to receive licensure in Japan is three years for nurses and one year for midwives. There are various midwifery education programs in Japan, such as graduate school Master’s courses; undergraduate courses; undergraduate non-degree programs; undergraduate special courses; junior college non-degree programs; and vocational schools. The current midwifery environment in Japan is characterized by the progression of our declining birthrate, the aging of expectant mothers, a lack of obstetricians, a decrease in parturient facilities, and a concurrent advancement of perinatal medicine and assisted reproductive technology. Therefore, midwives are required to possess advanced diagnostic and practical midwifery skills and the ability to collaborate with other medical professionals including obstetricians.

The Graduate School of Health Sciences (master's and doctoral programs) aims to train leaders and researchers with a high degree of research capacity in the field of health sciences. The Graduate School of Health Sciences consists of two educational research fields, Human Health Development and International Island Health, which conduct unique educational research regarding health and longevity on Okinawa, physical, psychosocial, and cultural factors that influence health, the development of health resources, and advanced healthcare technology, and island health in the Asia-Pacific region. We also promote the globalization of graduate education by encouraging graduate students to present their research at academic conferences such as the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health. Those who complete the doctoral course potentially work as researchers and leaders in universities, hospitals, laboratories, and international organizations.

OUNHS established a Health Sciences Master’s major and a Health Sciences PhD course in our Graduate School in 2009 to promote advanced research in non-nurse medical and healthcare professionals. These courses are very unique in universities and colleges of nursing in Japan. They were established for medical doctors, registered dietitians, radiation technologists, pharmacists, medical technologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and health and exercise trainers. The six specialty areas of the Master’s major are Health Physiology; Environmental Health Science; Physical Fitness and Sports Science; Radiological Health Science; Health Informatics and Biostatistics; and Mental Health. Education in the Master’s course is characterized by both day and night instruction, small class sizes, and mentor-group instruction. Two mentors with expertise in the course specialty area supervise student research from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students also receive statistical support and use statistical software such as SPSS, SAS, MATLAB and S-PLUS to process and interpret experimental and survey data.

Graduate Program for Midwifery launched in April 2010. This program aims to foster the midwives who will have advance knowledge and accurate skills in midwifery and who can contribute to maternal health and welfare in the community based on Nursing with hospitality and care.

Our Graduate School aims to foster researchers and educators to become specialist nurses with advanced nursing practice competence and able to promote improvement in the quality of life (QOL) and well-being of people who have various levels of health and have a diversity of values.