For Prospective Students

Studying at NUCB International College (NIC) provides high school students from around the world with a unique opportunity  to  study in a progressive academic  programme with top class resources on the picturesque Nagoya University of Commerce and Business  campus in the suburbs  of Nagoya. Students will acquire highly developed thinking and personal skills which will allow them to have multiple career pathway options both in Japan and abroad. They will live and study in an international community with a  wealth of cultures, perspectives and experiences for them to draw from as they hone their qualities as leaders and team players with the capacity to shape the future global society.

Driven by our Educational Philosophy, our ambition is for every student to reach her or his potential and make a contribution to society. In simple terms, we want students to be the best that they can be individually without fear of competition or failure. We endeavour to ensure that motivation comes from within so that it is constructive and enduring and not driven by competition or comparisons. The academic and pastoral support programmes and overall experience at NIC, put students on a path to lifelong achievement via the garnering of real skills and connections with quality teachers, professors and colleagues in a caring and collaborative environment.

The school is located in greater Nagoya, Japan's third most populous city and home to the country's greatest concentration of automobile, fine ceramics, aerospace, and other high-tech industries. It is known as the transportation hub of the country, making travel to other destinations fast and easy. Furthermore, the Chubu Centrair International Airport is easily accessible from the city center and functions as a convenient transit point for domestic flights and a key gateway to overseas.

The NIC programme is unique in Japan as while most private school schools are divided along the lines of the curriculum being either 'international' or 'Japanese', NIC represents a unique hybrid of these as shown by our dual-diploma graduation, giving our international students the opportunity to either go on to university studies in Japan or return to a university in their home country. All the traditional subjects will be offered at NIC, along with some more progressive ones, such as Approaches to Learning Skills and Design Thinking, in order to prepare students for the intellectual rigours of the IB Diploma Programme. While the NIC programme is by design a highly academic one, there is also a course on Japanese Popular Culture in the students' first year of study both in recognition of the spread of Japanese culture worldwide but also to assist international students with the transition to Japan and its diverse culture.

The Student Support Programme at NIC is comprehensive and includes Well-being, Recreational, Counselling, Careers and Academic support initiatives to cater for every aspect of the students journey at NIC from orientation to graduation and on to university. Our support model is strongly tied to student personal development so that over the three years students become both skilful and empowered being able to lead, collaborate and advocate across cultures as the circumstances demand. Moving to, and living in, another culture is never easy but the support is here to ensure a smooth transition and ongoing growth of our students and at the end of the programme our students can claim to be interculturally intelligent and competent.

In light of the recent developments in relation to the pandemic worldwide, it is understandable that many parents will be reluctant to send their children overseas. However, the location of the NIC school and dormitory is unique in that the students are securely and safely located on the campus of Nagoya University of Commerce and Business with all facilities self-contained within. All facets of student life are catered for on the campus and the dormitory accommodation is compulsory in order to reduce risks. Should flare-ups of disease occur in the general society, lockdown is readily achievable with a minimum of disruption to student studies. At NIC we go to great lengths to ensure that steps and procedures are in place and the campus environment is as safe as it can possibly be.

One of the most difficult challenges facing Returnee students is to overcome the confusion and rejection that often goes with moving between countries and new schools. Indeed for many students, although their parents may be Japanese, the shock of moving from a western style school environment, for example, to a Japanese style school environment may be overwhelming for them and of course this can have a long-lasting impact upon their studies and academic outcomes. At NIC we understand the situation of these students well and the difficult choices that their families need to make in selecting a suitable school environment, and so we have put in place systems to cater precisely for these circumstances and provide for as smooth a transition as possible. Whether students have been away from Japan for 3, 5 or 10 years we expect that NIC will soon feel like a home to them with caring teachers and dormitory staff to support and nurture.
We also understand that students may have a variety of future pathways in mind such as preparation for entry into a traditional Japanese university or returning to the overseas country that they knew so well. These are not always an easy decisions to make and student perspectives may change over time. With the NIC Career support system students are carefully guided in a reflective way so that students can make solid and well-informed decisions when they actually need to.

For students currently studying at a Japanese middle school with a good level of academic and English communication ability, the NIC 3-year high school programme is perfect. Studying at NIC and living in the NIC dormitory with an international cohort of students will take their English to near native level and build the communication skills to engage comfortably and confidently with the global community. Upon successful completion of the programme students will walk away with two diplomas and this will allow them to apply for universities both in Japan aboard. They will also build international friendships and connections that will be invaluable to them in their future fields of endeavour, whether they choose to live in Japan or overseas, and give them the edge over others in a range of skills other than English.
Aside from the usual school application documentation, if students have undergone their studies in middle school in mostly Japanese, they will also need to submit an English ability test undergone within 6 months of the application date as part of the application process. This will show us that the student is ready to study in English and have the best opportunity to do well in the programme. We expect students to be at minimum level of B2 according to the CEFR scale by the time studies commence in September. However, students with otherwise good academic results in their middle school subjects, who find themselves at B1 level upon application, may be accepted into the school provided they undertake the precursory Online Bridging Programme (OBP) which runs from April-June prior to the commencement of the school year. The OBP will provide the student with four hours of intensive communicative English study per day for three months, thus allowing them to bridge the language gap prior to commencement of the school year in September.

English Language Tests and Marking Systems

The Most Dynamic Area in Japan

Nagoya is a center of manufacturing craftsmanship, with strong connections to the automotive, aircraft, and industrial robot industries.

A distinctive food culture exists full of local delicacies such as kishimen (noodles), tebasaki (chicken wings), misonikomi (miso boiled udon), and much more.

Nagoya's population density is only one-third of that of Tokyo or Osaka. The city has a number of lush parks that are great for enjoying the weather, jogging, or taking part in the many seasonal events that are held in the city. It's also a great place for enjoying professional sporting events such as baseball and soccer as well as the annual Nagoya Tournament of the Japan Sumo Association.

There are many well-known tourist spots, such as Hida-Takayama in Gifu or Ise and Toba in Mie, which are easily reached by train from Nagoya. Nagoya also has a well-developed public transportation network of subway and bus lines that make commuting or shopping very easy.