The European Institute, officially established on April 1 2007, grew out of the former Germanic Cultural Research Institute , merging with the Institute of Spanish Studies on July 1 2009, and has thus stretched its research scope to cover the society and culture of the whole European continent.
　Now reorganized into four study sections, "politics, economy and society", "art and culture", "language" and "history", the Institute is active in promoting research projects both on its own and jointly with other organizations.
　

• "Sophia Journal of European Studies"
  (annual publication)
• "Sophia European Studies Series"
  (issued occasionally)
• "Film Seminar"
  (annual publication)
• Records of symposia and research activities
  (issued occasionally)

　The European Institute boasts a wide collection of materials related to European studies. Approximately 43,000 works of literature, documents, and audio/video software are classified and open for public use. Materials include: books in German, Swiss, Austrian, European, Spanish, Portuguese and EU sections, in addition to a collection of European cinema DVDs.

　The Institute also serves as the EU information Centre (EUi) at Sophia, providing a wide range of EU official periodicals and documents to the local community. 　Participating in the “EU-Japan Friendship Week” held every year, the 2013 events included an exhibition and a lecture “EU-Japan Relations: from Trade War to Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation”.

Germanic Cultural Research Institute (1981-2007)

　Established on April 1st, 1981, the Germanic Cultural Research Institute expanded the understanding of Germany Austria, and Switzerland.
　The Institute conducted comprehensive and interdisciplinary studies focusing on religion, philosophy, education, language, literature, art, history, politics, economy, and information in these countries.

Institute of Spanish Studies (1959-2009)

　In 1955, the Spanish Embassy Library was opened under the agreement between the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Spanish Embassy in Japan and Sophia University. Located within the University, the library offered public services to books owned by the Cultural Department, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
　In 1959, the Hispanic Centre was established to promote academic exchanges between Spain and Japan through research activities on culture, society, language, politics and other fields related to Spain. The Centre also took charge of the Spanish Embassy Library management. 　Later in 1992, all books that had belonged to the Embassy Library were donated to the Hispanic Centre, which continued to be involved in the collection, management and operation of the library.
　Another important mission of the Hispanic Centre was organizing and running Spanish language classes for adult students, the number of which reached 15,000 between its thirty-two years of history from 1960 to 1992. From 1994, its principal activities shifted to research, thus the Hispanic Centre was renamed the Centre of Spanish Studies. Its library collections further expanded in 1997 by adding the Spanish Civil War series and also the collection by the Spanish Language Department of the University.
　In 2008, the Centre of Spanish Studies was renamed the Institute of Spanish Studies. It merged with the European Institute in 2009.