Kwansei Gakuin University (関西学院大学, Kansei Gakuin Daigaku), colloquially abbreviated to Kangaku (関学), is a non-denominational Christian private and coeducational university located in Nishinomiya, Sanda, Osaka City, and Tokyo, Japan. Chartered in 1932, it is the 13th institution with university status in Kansai region, the 23rd-oldest outside of Greater Tokyo, and the 46th-oldest in the country. Kwansei Gakuin University is one of the four leading private universities in the Kansai region of Japan (other three are Doshisha University, Ritsumeikan University, and Kansai University). It should not be confused with Kansai University (関西大学, Kansai daigaku), an entirely separate university in Suita, Osaka. Founded by the Revd Walter Russell Lambuth in 1889, Kwansei Gakuin was originally a day school / seminary affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC-S) in the Foreigners' Settlement (Concession) in Kobe. KG steadily expanded as a middle school, rather than a seminary through 1900s. Then its expansion accelerated as an institution of higher education, especially after Kwansei Gakuin was under the joint control of MEC-S and the Canadian Methodist Church in 1911.