Osaka University of Economics dates back to the establishment of Naniwa Commercial High School, its forerunner, in 1932. The High School underwent reorganization, and in 1935 Dr. Iwao Kokusho, then professor at Kyoto Imperial University, reopened the school as Showa Commercial High School, which he had built using his personal assets.
In 1944, the school became Osaka Girls College of Economics, because male students had to leave school due to student mobilization during WW2. During the post-war period, the school became a coeducational college and in 1946 was renamed Osaka College of Economics. It was given its current name, Osaka University of Economics (OUE), in 1949; Dr. Iwao Kokusho became its first President. Since then, the University and its graduate schools have been actively working in specialized areas of economics and business administration. In addition to the existing Faculties of Economics and Business Administration, the Faculty of Information Management was added in 1997, and the Faculty of Human Sciences in 2002,