Kyoto Bunkyo Gakuen, the educational corporation that runs Kyoto Bunkyo Junior College, held a board of directors and councilors meeting and decided to stop recruiting students from 2026 onwards. This is due to the continued under-enrollment of students as young people seek to attend four-year universities. The college will open a base for home economics and early childhood education at the attached Kyoto Bunkyo University and continue to develop the education and research it has cultivated over many years.
According to Kyoto Bunkyo Junior College, its predecessor was the Higher Home Economics School, which was established in 1904 in what is now Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto City, at the request of a Jodo sect priest. The junior college was established in 1960 under the name Kasei Gakuen Junior College, but was renamed Kyoto Kasei Junior College the following year in 1961, and Kyoto Bunkyo Junior College in 1980. It moved to Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture in 1967.
The school has three departments: life design, food and nutrition, and early childhood education, and has trained nutritionists and nursery teachers. It has sent about 3 graduates out into the world so far. However, due to the declining birthrate and the declining population of 3-year-olds, enrollment has become the norm, and for the past three years, enrollment has been at 7,000-18% of the capacity.
Kyoto Bunkyo University plans to establish a new interdisciplinary Faculty of Life Sciences (tentative name) in 2027 to expand on learning at the junior college. From 2025, the university plans to establish a food management course and a sports and health course in the Faculty of Integrated Social Studies, and to enhance the early childhood education course in the Faculty of Child Education, thereby continuing the role that the junior college has played until now.
Kyoto Bunkyo Gakuen will hold an information session for current students to report the situation, and will also send a report document to parents, guarantors, and relevant organizations.
