Program choice
Level 2
Major only
University
Kyoto University
Ranking positions
Program choice
Level 2
Major only
Course choice
Level 4
Cross-registration
The official page describes the general undergraduate model: Kyoto University has ten faculties, and first-year students take university-wide liberal arts and science courses before or alongside study in their chosen fields.
The admissions section states that applicants pass the selection process administered by their chosen program; therefore a more flexible assessment of main-field choice depends on faculty-level rules.
The page lists the ten faculties and their undergraduate departments, including the six-year Medical Science and Pharmacy programs.
Undergraduate duration range: most programs require at least four years, while Medicine and Pharmacy require six or more years of attendance.
KyotoU's central curriculum-policy page records staged specialization in the Faculty of Letters: students are assigned to a division when advancing to the second year and to a specialized department when advancing to the third year.
Model elements: one faculty-level example of post-enrollment main-field choice.
The Faculty of Science describes its own gradual-specialization model: by the end of the second year, students choose one of five majors and then focus more strongly on that field in the third and fourth years.
Additional model element: other faculty rules show a recurring KyotoU pattern of post-enrollment main-field choice.
KyotoU's central page describes the Faculty of Education as one Department of Educational Sciences with three specialty areas; students choose affiliation with one of them when advancing to the third year.
Additional model element: another faculty-level delayed-specialization variant; Kyoto University is better classified as a main-field choice model than a fully fixed-program model.
The Faculty of Integrated Human Studies page describes selection of the main specialization after exposure to a broad range of fields, as well as a minor system documented by a separate certificate.
Formal model element: a full faculty-level major/minor-like model; it is important for the assessment, but it does not by itself turn Kyoto University as a whole into a university-wide major + minor model.
KyotoU describes the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences as a late-specialization model: through the third year, students study in a single structure and then choose Pharmaceutical Sciences or Pharmacy and their specialized field according to aptitude and plans.
Model elements: that post-enrollment main-track choice appears not only in humanities or science, but also in a professionally oriented medical-pharmaceutical context.
The AY2026 ILAS handbook describes university-wide common courses as the basis of liberal arts and general education, generally offered across faculty boundaries and intended for students of all faculties.
The document defines eight undergraduate course groups and explains that faculties set required credits by group, while selection of specific courses within that framework is largely left to students.
The AY2026 ILAS course list shows a broad internal pool: humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, languages, informatics, health and sports, career development, interdisciplinary sciences, and small-group seminars.
Model elements: the scale of internal choice: this is not a short list of program alternatives, but a large university-wide catalog organized by distribution areas.
The official ILAS notice describes registration for University Consortium Kyoto credit-transfer courses for undergraduates admitted from 2016 onward and lists courses offered by external universities.
Model elements: regular open external course choice through a consortium, while Kyoto University separately notes that inclusion of those credits in graduation requirements depends on the faculty.