The Faculty’s rigorous academic programs are designed to equip students with flexible and critical thinking skills, linguistic abilities, and cultural competencies necessary to navigate today’s increasingly multicultural and complex world, and to take the lead in bridging differences and promoting mutual understanding. Comparatively small class sizes, diversity in the student body, which comprises over fifty nationalities, and highly qualified professors from diverse backgrounds provide an ideal environment for achieving the FLA’s educational mission.

The FLA offers an English-taught liberal arts curriculum which enables students to acquire a strong academic foundation and intellectual orientation before selecting a disciplinary major.

During the first year, students are required to take “core courses” which train them thoroughly in critical thinking skills as well as in writing and public speaking skills. From the second year onward, the FLA curriculum requires students to choose a major from among three broad areas (Comparative Culture, International Business and Economics, and Social Studies), and to study that field in close connection with neighboring disciplines. In the junior and senior years, students take advanced courses in their selected major, while continuing to take courses outside their major. This interdisciplinary orientation is designed to foster students’ ability to approach issues from multiple perspectives.

※ Please see the syllabus at the Sophia University website for details.

The FLA Core Program comprises a set of required courses for degree students.These courses include a sequence of composition courses, a public speaking course, and a course in critical thinking. Before the beginning of classes in both the spring and autumn semesters, all incoming students take a placement test to determine where in the sequence of Core Program courses they will begin. Students are expected to complete Core Program requirements during their first and second years of study. The Core Program ser ves several purposes within the FLA curriculum. Besides developing the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed at the college level, the Core Program curriculum helps students grasp the expansive and interdisciplinary nature of a liberal arts education and, through a close engagement with a wide range of texts and topics, prepares them for choosing a major field of study. The learning goals and objectives of the Core Program emphasize the development of clear, effective, and critical communication in both speaking and writing, as well as the habits of mind that foster integrative thinking and the ability to transfer knowledge and skills from one setting to another.

The Sophia Writing Center offers writing assistance for all students in the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Whether the student is working on an essay in one of the required courses in the Core Program or a research paper in an advanced course in the student’s chosen major, the tutors at the Writing Center can help. Tutorials can be scheduled from Monday to Friday. These tutorials are generally conducted by graduate students in the Graduate Program in Global Studies and exceptional undergraduate students in the FLA program. Tutorials are given on an individual basis, providing students with an opportunity to examine their ideas and arguments with an accomplished writer. Students can then revise their written work to satisfy the requirements of the assignment. In addition to individual tutorials, the Writing Center offers several workshops each semester, focusing on topics such as principles of academic writing and documenting sources. You will be introduced to the Writing Center at the beginning of your first semester, and its helpful services will be available to you throughout your university career.

General Studies (GS) courses allow students to study beyond a specialized area, facilitating interdisciplinary understanding of academic fields and reflection upon fundamental human and social issues. The scope of courses is broad, and in addition to Studies in Christian Humanism, Language, Liberal Arts of the Body, Data Science, offers GS distribution courses in three categories: Society and Culture, Cultural Traditions, and Politics and Economy. Furthermore, the various Elective Courses allow students to acquire a solid foundation in Computer Studies, Environmental Issues, Geography, Mathematics, and Statistics.

Religion and Philosophy focuses on understanding the philosophical and religious orientations of different cultures as expressed in myths, philosophical and religious texts, the arts, rituals, and ethical practices. Many of the courses in the three fields of study share overlapping themes and interests. In particular, all three fields focus on understanding how peoples of different cultural traditions have attempted to understand themselves as well as those of other cultures. In addition, Comparative Culture focuses on developing students’ skills in critical reading and writing as well as in interpreting their own and other cultures. Comparative Culture thus aims to prepare students for a range of career tracks and life situations in an age that is increasingly marked by globalization, the encounter of different cultures, and the emergence of multi-cultural societies and workplaces.

To see course descriptions, please click the link below, which will take you the Syllabus Inquiry page on Loyola.

Class lectures often involve in-class discussions, group assignments, and frequent interactions with students of diverse backgrounds from all over the world. The program thus enables students to experience a fully international, multicultural environment, which in turn allows them to make the smooth transition from college education to the international workplace. In addition, the flexible nature of the FLA program allows students to immerse themselves in classes outside of IBE – such as anthropology and religion – while taking up a foreign language and/or studying in other faculties at Sophia.

To see course descriptions, please click the link below, which will take you the Syllabus Inquiry page on Loyola.

However, the main purpose of the Social Studies major is not to train students in technical skills. It is rather to encourage students to reflect upon the customs, principles, institutions, and values which inform the societies they live in, and to contribute to their betterment. Students majoring in Social Studies are required to choose a primary field and a secondary field from the three concentrations available within the major. Major courses build systematically, from introductory lectures to advanced, small-sized seminars. The curriculum emphasizes fostering intellectual curiosity, encouraging independent research, and exposure to a variety of perspectives.

To see course descriptions, please click the link below, which will take you the Syllabus Inquiry page on Loyola.