information:classification
Post-war period

The Allied Occupation Period following Japan's defeat in the Second World War saw a radical reform in the country's educational system, and Kyoto University was not immune from it. Along with other Imperial Universities, Kyoto Imperial University dropped the word 'imperial' from its name and came to be known as Kyoto University (京都大学, Kyōto daigaku) in October 1947. In May 1949, as a result of the American-led reform, former Imperial Universities merged with higher schools and became four-year universities as they are today. Kyoto University merged with the Third Higher School, which had been coexisting with the university since its founding as a university-preparatory boys' boarding school. The now-integrated higher school became the College of Liberal Arts (教養部, Kyōyō-bu) within the university in September 1949, and came to be in charge of equipping all first-year undergraduates with general knowledge such as mathematics and foreign languages. The college was replaced by the Faculty of Integrated Human Studies (総合人間学部, Sōgō-ningen-gakubu) in 1992.

Kyoto University has been incorporated as a national university corporation along with all the other national universities, gaining a greater independence from the MEXT.