after founded as the Training Institute for Elementary School Teachers in 1874. Thereafter in 1949 three colleges, namely the above-mentioned Shiga College of Education, Shiga Teachers Training College and Hikone Commercial College known as Hikone Kōshō which was founded in 1922, were combined into one institution and it was chartered as a university. The Otsu campus of Shiga University has its origin in the establishment of Shiga Normal School in Otsu in 1874. This school was reorganized as the Shiga College of Education in 1943. Upon the founding of Shiga University in May, 1949, the Shiga College of Education and the Shiga Teachers Training College were brought together as the Faculty of Liberal Arts. The Hikone campus has its origin in the establishment of the Hikone Commercial College in 1922 when Kizo Yasui as the town mayor of Hikone (Then Hikone was not a city but a town under the old system) had been making every effort to establish this college. This college was reorganized in 1944 as the Hikone College of Economics. At the time Shiga University was founded in May, 1949, the college had become the Faculty of Economics. The administrative offices of the university are located on the Hikone campus. The following table shows the development and reorganization of Shiga University since its foundation in 1949: As a base university selected by MEXT Shiga University together with Hokkaido University, University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Osaka University and kyushu University is one of the 6 base universities for education of applied mathematics and data science selected by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). Student activities Shiga University offers a wide variety of clubs and circles. Further information : Extracurricular activities (clubs and circles) SIFE National Champion & World Cup semifinalist In 2010, Shiga University team of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), which won twice in Japan in 2007 and 2010 by beating Kyoto University, Waseda University, Keio University and so on, became the first-ever Japanese semifinalist of SIFE World Cup. Evaluation from Business World Notable people Yoshiji Fukushima, businessperson Hirotaro Higuchi, businessperson Kakuzo Kawamoto, businessperson and politician Gentaro Kawase, businessperson Koji Kobayashi, businessperson Masahiro Murakami, businessperson Shoji Nishida, politician Yoshiomi Tamai, activist, philanthropist and educator Sōsuke Uno, prime minister References External links Official website Introduction of 13 National Universities in Kinki Region starting with Shiga University Educational institutions established in 1943 Japanese national universities Universities