This educational institution was founded in 1912. The founder, MORI Wasa, believed that there was an urgent need for moral education for women and established the private Mori Sewing School for Girls in Hyogo-ku, Kobe City. The objectives of the school were to provide with education of the spirit with the aim of education such as the cultivation of the mind, strength, and people that are truly useful to society. While Wasa Mori then had been continuing strict training and diligent study by herself she nurtured women that possessed original virtues of Japanese women with conviction. As a result, the school prospered, and in 1918 it was renamed the Mori School for Girls. It coped with the social conditions after World War Ⅰ, and in 1923, the Mori Girls’ High School was also founded and more effort was put into the education of girls. In 1936, at a new school site in Egeyama-cho, Hyogo-ku, Kobe City its moved into newly built school buildings. During the diffcult times of war, it continued education of women with conviction.

According to the educational structure was completely changed after World War Ⅱ, the name was changed to the Kobe Mori Girls’ High School and Junior High School. The organization was reorganized to become an educational foundation. Carrying on the spirit of the founder, efforts were made to further enrich and develop the educational foundation, which contributed female education after the war.

After that, as the trend in the establishment of universities increased, an application for the establishment of a junior college with a domestic science evening course was made to the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (currently: the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) in 1951. This application was made on consideration of the situation of the educational facilities and the fact that there were few junior colleges or higher education for women providing night course in Kobe City. As the Authorization was granted, the Kobe Mori Women’s Junior College was established in March of the following year, 1952.

In 1966, Kobe Gakuin University was founded in Ikawadani-cho, Tarumi-ku, Kobe City (currently: Ikawadani-cho, Nishi-ku, Kobe City), under MORI Shigeki as the first president. Initially, it was a college offering just one course of study, in the Faculty of Nutrition, which was the first coeducational Faculty of Nutrition in Japan. Our university is proude of that foresight and originality.

Afterword, the Faculty of Law and Economics in 1967, Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1972, Humanities and Sciences in 1990, Business Administration in 2004, and in 2005, Rehabilitation were established.

Furthermore, the University founded the Faculty of Contemporary Social Studies in 2014, Global Communication in 2015, Psychology in 2018, and the Graduate School of Psychology in 2019. The university has developed to become the largest private university combining the humanities with sciences in Kobe City consisting of ten faculties and eight graduate schools. Our university offers well-balanced programs of cultural, social, and natural studies.

Efforts have been made to improve the learning environment with the expanding the Port Island Campus 2 in autumn of 2019 to improve the facilities for education and extracurricular activities at the University. The “Kobe Sannomiya Satellite” was also established in commercial facilities adjacent to the JR Sannomiya station, the gateway to Kobe. This takes on a role in the University’s contribution to the community by providing a location for lifelong learning with courses and seminars for neighbouring citizens.