Kobe Pharmaceutical University regards Kobe Women's School of Pharmacy, which was established in 1930, as its parent institution. In 1932, it became Kobe Women's Technical School of Pharmacy and that year is regarded as the year of our school's foundation.
In 1949, that technical college became Kobe Women's College of Pharmacy under the post-World War II educational system reforms.
At the time of our elevation to university status, the University had only a single Pharmacy Department, but in 1965, the University was reorganized into a two-department system as it is today with the establishment of the Department of Biopharmaceutical science.
Subsequently, a graduate school Master's degree program was established in 1967, and a Doctoral program was added in 1979. It should be noted that men have also been accepted into the graduate school's Doctoral program since its beginning.
At the beginning of the 20th century when this University was founded, institutions of higher education that opened their doors to women were very limited.
However, the desire of women for higher education grew in light of trends in society, and in addition, improvements in the general economic situation of the nation made it possible for women to go on to school.
In such a social context, this University was established with the aim of encouraging the independence of women by educating women who could contribute to society through acquiring a grounding in science, and further, gaining the qualifications to be a pharmacist.
This founding principle remained strong when our status was elevated to a university, and in spite of the recommendation of the Occupation Forces to become a coeducational institution, we continued as a women's pharmaceutical educational institution even after the World War, and carved out a place in history for more than 60 years.
Over the years, the social progress of women has been remarkable, and the number of universities keeping their doors closed to women has dwindled down to none at all.
In such an era, we were forced to admit that the social significance of this University conducting pharmaceutical education aimed only at women had greatly decreased. Instead, it was anticipated that opening our doors to men would serve to energize and revitalize education and research at this University.
Accordingly, at a meeting of the corporate Board of Directors with the mutual agreement of the Faculty Council, it was decided to introduce a coeducational system as of April 1994 and to change the name of this institution to Kobe Pharmaceutical University.