Master in Major in System Design and Management

The Major in System Design and Management is a master's program at Keio University in Kanagawa, Japan, taught in English over two years, with intakes in September and April. Keio University was founded in 1858 by Yukichi Fukuzawa as one of Japan's earliest schools of Western learning and has operated for over one hundred sixty years as the country's first private institution of higher education, guided by its founder's motto of jitsugaku, or empirical science. This field combines engineering design with management theory to address problems in large, interconnected systems. A master's curriculum in system design and management typically covers systems engineering methods, project and risk management, decision analysis, and the organizational side of building and operating complex technical systems such as infrastructure, transportation networks, and industrial platforms. Students learn to model system behavior, evaluate trade-offs between cost, performance, and reliability, and manage the coordination challenges that come with large engineering projects. Many programs in this area combine core coursework with a capstone project or thesis that applies these methods to a real-world system. Career paths for graduates include systems engineering, project management, and technical consulting roles across industries such as manufacturing, transportation, energy, and information technology, as well as positions in government agencies responsible for infrastructure planning. Some graduates move into product management or operations roles where systems thinking is applied to organizational rather than purely technical problems, while others continue into doctoral study. Delivered in English at a Japanese university, the program also gives students direct exposure to engineering and management practice in Japan. The two-year length matches the standard duration for master's study in engineering and management fields internationally.