The School of Political Science and Economics (SPSE) started as early as Meiji 15 (1882), as a pioneering department of the Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the school that went on to become Waseda University, founded by Shigenobu Okuma. The lofty ideals which led Shigenobu Okuma to found the University were shared by the eminent scholars Azusa Ono, Sanae Takata, and Tameyuki Amano. Azusa Ono had studied political science in England, while Sanae Takata was a political scientist well versed in English and American politics and culture. For his part, Tameyuki Amano was an outstanding economist, greatly influenced by English and American ideas. It is no wonder that the School of Political Science and Economics, pioneered by such outstanding scholars, has occupied a central position at Waseda University ever since its establishment. In those early days, education in Japan was under the strong influence of the German education system, regarded by the Japanese as a role model. However, the SPSE distinguished itself from its competitors by adopting a different approach to education, one in which the study of political science and the study of economics were united in a single school, with students in each of the two Departments encouraged to study the other discipline also. This insightful decision was remarkable because German universities generally placed political science with law and not economics. The innovation thrived and has continued to this day: SPSE students select a variety of subjects from both political science and economics. In 2004, the School created a third department: the Department of Global Political Economy, integrating political science, economics, and public administration, to provide students with a thorough grounding in a truly interdisciplinary and internationally oriented academic program. Moreover, in 2010, the School launched the English-based Degree Program, which allows students to complete all of their courses in English and obtain a degree. The School has continued to improve and develop the program ever since. For more information about the English-based Degree Program, please visit the following website.