Shinshu University

Shinshu University (信州大学, Shinshu daigaku), abbreviated to Shindai (信大), is a Japanese national university in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The only university of its established time, bearing the name "Shinshu" used before the 1871 establishment of prefectural name, is also firmly rooted in the many regions of Nagano Prefecture. It was the 23th ranked higher education institution in Japan.

The University has several campuses; Matsumoto, Nagano, Ueda and Minami-Minowa. Nagano Prefecture is located in the center of Japan, a region blessed with traditional culture that is kept alive at many places throughout the prefecture such as Zenkoji, Matsumoto Castle, Ueda Castle.

The school was founded in 1873 and it was established as a university in 1949, at which time the following institutions were subsumed into it; Nagano Normal School (established in 1873), Ueda Textile College (1910), Nagano Youths Normal School (1918), Matsumoto High School (1919), Nagano Technical College (1943), Matsumoto Medical College (1944), and Nagano Prefectural College of Agriculture and Forestry (1945).