Tsukuba International School

Tsukuba International School (TIS) was founded in 1992 by foreign residents of Tsukuba Science City who saw the need for an international school. It moved between rented premises for its first years until 2008, when a new principal raised funds for a log-house-style school building, and in 2009 Ibaraki Prefecture recognised its umbrella body, Tsukuba Global Academy, as an educational corporation. TIS is independent, non-profit and non-religious.

TIS is authorised for the IB Primary Years Programme (2011), Middle Years Programme (2014) and Diploma Programme (2017), and describes itself as the only full-continuum IB World School in Ibaraki. It was accredited by the Council of International Schools in 2018 and re-accredited in 2025, and belongs to JCIS and EARCOS.

The school has about 300 students aged 3 to 18 and around 50 staff from many countries, with one class per grade from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12. Class sizes are capped at 14–16 in pre-kindergarten, 22 in elementary and 25 in secondary. The campus is in a quiet forested area, and the school notes long staff tenure, with over 60% of faculty and staff serving more than five years.