Veterinary Schools
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Asia

Veterinary Schools in Japan

6 researched institutions with a campus here, offering 17 veterinary programs. This is the research done to date, not a complete list of every program.

By prefecture

17 programs

How results are ordered: alphabetically by institution, or by most recently checked when you choose that sort. There is no price ranking, because tuition in different currencies, fee categories and bases (per year, per credit, whole program) is not comparable. Adjacent subjects such as pre-veterinary or animal science appear only when you choose a subject. A value we could not verify is shown as “not published”, never as “no”. Items marked Sponsored are paid placements; they never change accreditation information, verification or order. Online programs are not counted as physically located in a state or city, and an institution’s location does not tell you whether it enrols students from your country.

About veterinary education in Japan

How veterinary education is organised

Veterinary medicine at the Japanese universities examined here is a six-year undergraduate course followed by a National Examination for Veterinarians; graduate schools offer doctoral research programmes in veterinary science. Some universities share a programme: Hokkaido University and Obihiro University run one Cooperative Veterinary Education Program, and Yamaguchi and Kagoshima Universities run a Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine with the same curriculum. Since 2019 several of these programmes have been evaluated by the European EAEVE (see recognitions). Veterinary nursing is taught as a four-year course at some private universities aiming at the national companion animal nurse qualification (愛玩動物看護師).

Source: vetmed.hokudai.ac.jp/en/study/outline/curriculum/

Qualification structures

Names and levels are local to Japan. Similar names in other countries are not interchangeable.

Six-year veterinary course (獣医学科 / 獣医学類)
Undergraduate veterinary course; graduates sit the National Examination for Veterinarians. Source
Veterinary nursing course (獣医保健看護学類 / 学科)
Four-year course at Rakuno Gakuen University and Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University; Rakuno's pages say students aim for the national companion animal nurse qualification. Source
Doctoral programmes in veterinary science
Four-year doctoral courses (for example Obihiro's Doctor of Veterinary Science, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University's 博士（獣医学）). Source

Bodies that matter, and what each one does

Accreditation, validation, education authority and registration are different roles. Do not read a listing by one body as evidence from another.

European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) / ESEVT
Evaluation body (not a Japanese regulator): its status table lists Ebetsu, Hokkaido & Obihiro, Kagoshima and Yamaguchi as Associates with an accreditation outcome under the ESEVT.

Route to registration

Current rules as described by the official source; always check the authority directly.

Hokkaido University's course page states that the National Examination for Veterinarians is given in mid-February with results in mid-March; Kagoshima University's page states graduates who complete the required credits obtain eligibility to take it. The ministry or body administering the examination was not verified in this session. Source

No degree on this site automatically permits anyone to practise as a veterinarian, and nothing here is visa, work-permit or credit-transfer advice.

Languages and admissions

Teaching languages. Undergraduate teaching languages were not stated on the fetched pages; Hokkaido University states that its graduate veterinary classes are in principle taught entirely in English.

Admissions. Hokkaido University's graduate school requires an external English test score (TOEFL iBT 55 or equivalent) from international applicants, with exemptions for applicants with five or more years of higher education in English. Source

Official study information

Country information last reviewed 19 October 2026. 2 sources consulted.