Given Okuma's fervor for the West, it is hardly surprising that the Tokyo Semmon Gakko was noted as being the first academic institution in Japan offering an English-style education, striving for academic freedom and campus democracy, emphasizing "a mixture of Eastern and Western civilizations."
由於大隈重信對歐美先進制度的憧憬，東京專門學校也標榜為日本第一所「英式教育」學府，追求學問的獨立與校園民主，並強調「東西文明的調和」。