Ritsumeikan is currently striving towards becoming an Academy that is prominent in three major areas : education, research, and social contribution. In striving to achieve this goal, Ritsumeikan has placed international cooperation highly among its priorities for contributing to the global development of countries. Ritsumeikan began by creating the Centre of International Cooperation and Services in November 2004, before restructuring the organization in April 2006 by integrating it with the International Department to form the Office of International Cooperation and Services. 

     Ritsumeikan operates its education and research activities under the ideas of freedom, spirit, globalism, peace, and democracy, and on its 100th anniversary in April 2000 established Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU). APU is striving to achieve a symbiotic relationship with the Asian Pacific region through its belief in the future vision of the area. The Office of International Cooperation and Services is one of the channels through which Ritsumeikan embodies its ideology. Furthermore, in today’s society, where universities are called upon to actively share their resources with the general public, the Office of International Cooperation and Services is the place that is capable of linking educational research activities with international social contribution. Ritsumeikan is working alongside the government regarding international contribution and is addressing feasible international collaboration from the position of an educational institution.

     Based on the priorities listed above, Ritsumeikan has begun preparation in three fields: training, research, and the dispatching of experts. For the field of training, Ritsumeikan has been actively utilizing its educational facilities and resources by conducting special training programs and recruiting foreign students for the purpose of cultivating specialists in developing countries. The field of research allows Ritsumeikan’s research facilities to be incorporated into the government’s research activities intended to actualize assistance to developing countries. Finally, the dispatch of experts to developing countries focuses on contributing to growth in that country in various ways.

     Ritsumeikan has successfully dispatched experts and hosted international students in the past. In addition to strengthening social contribution by being directly associated with the formulation and development of regional communities within a global society, improving international collaboration in the aforementioned field is closely related to advancing the university on the international level. Ritsumeikan is aware of the role it must play as an educational institution in the 21st century, and it also recognizes international collaboration as an important pillar of its foundation.