Musashino Art University is moving ahead with plans to establish and open the College of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation and the Graduate School of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation in April 2019. The College of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation will house the newly established Department of Creative Innovation, while the Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences will be relocated to the College from the College of Art and Design. In the Graduate School of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation, the Master of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation will be established, and will consist of the Imaging Arts and Sciences Course, which will be relocated from the Graduate School of Art and Design, and the Creative Leadership Course.

Musashino Art University will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2019, and in the midst of major change in the social and industrial structure, the opening of the new College and Graduate School in this milestone year will signal the start of a ten-year university reform program leading to the University’s centenary. This is the first new college to be opened by the University since its foundation and the establishment of the College of Art and Design.

Under its traditional educational philosophy that the fine arts derive from comprehensive character development, the University is providing an education in art and design that fosters individuality, humanity, the capacity to think and powers of expression—qualities that are highly valued in today’s society. The College of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation and the Graduate School of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation will develop human resources rich with flexible creativity and imagination that can apply such broad-ranging capabilities to resolve various social issues and generate new values not just in the field of art and design, but throughout society as a whole; that is, human resources with the creative thought processes that can be instrumental in social innovation.

The Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences and the Imaging Arts and Sciences Course will come under, respectively, the College of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation and the Graduate School of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation from the April 2019 student intake. As a part of the new College and Graduate School, the Department and Course will adhere to the same guiding philosophy they have followed since foundation, and the more wide-ranging educational content they will provide is expected to achieve further improvement and advancement.

The University is also making progress in its preparations to open its City Campus in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area in April 2019. This new campus will be primarily for third- and fourth-year students in the newly established Department of Creative Innovation and students in the Creative Leadership Course.

First- and second-year students in the Department of Creative Innovation and students in the Department of Imaging Arts and Sciences and the Imaging Arts and Sciences Course will study mainly at the Takanodai Campus.