The current university was established in October 1973. A forerunner of this university was Tokyo University of Education (東京教育大学 Tōkyō kyōiku daigaku?) originally founded in 1872 as one of the oldest universities in Japan, Tokyo Higher Normal School (東京師範学校 Tōkyō Shihan Gakkō?). The University of Tsukuba (筑波大学 Tsukuba daigaku?), one of the oldest national universities (established by Japanese Government) and one of the most comprehensive research universities in Japan, is located in the city of Tsukuba (known as Tsukuba Science City), Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 16,500 students (as of 2014).[1] The main Tsukuba campus covers an area of 258 hectares (636 acres), making it the 2nd largest single campus in Japan.[2] The branch campus is located in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, which offers graduate programs for working adults in the capital and manages K-12 schools in Tokyo that are attached to the university.