Established based on the history and cultural climate of Hokkaido, the Hokkaido University of Education (HUE) is a unique national higher education institution that educates women and men to be exquisite educators and contributors to societies and cultures the tradition of four former normal schools, HUE was founded in 1949 as a teacher training university consisting of five campuses (Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa, Kushiro, and Iwamizawa); since then, it has churned out successful graduates, especially in the area of education.