Social Studies extends over a wide range of fields in humanity and social science such as law, politics, economics, philosophy and ethics, history, geography, and sociology. To meet the students' wishes to follow their interest, the faculty of this course comprises as many teachers as are needed to cover every field of study and also specifically invited teachers, who all jointly offer lectures, seminars, and training, consequently providing a good variety of courses. In their first and second years students acquire broad knowledge and understanding required of social studies teachers, start in the junior year to conduct their researches under teachers' individualized instruction in specialized fields through their seminars, and present the results in the form of a graduation thesis. The distinctive characteristic of the course is that we stress the importance of "methods for acquisition of knowledge" as well as "acquisition of knowledge itself." We are not so much concerned with mere impartation of knowledge to students as with their learning how to acquire knowledge on their own. Students obtain a teacher's certificate in elementary and middle school social studies education by earning required credits for graduation, and some additionally earned credits will qualify them for teaching in high schools (geography, history and civics). In addition to the educational career, graduates from our course seek their careers in public service and in the private sector. In recent years, an increasing number of graduates pursue their study further in higher educational institutions.