President’s Address at the Fall Graduation Ceremony 2008

Kenichi Iga
President, Tokyo Institute of Technology
(September 25, 2008)

It is my great pleasure to hold the 2008 Fall Graduation Ceremony of Tokyo Institute of Technology in presence of Executive Vice Presidents, Director-General, Deans of Graduate Schools, Directors of Research Laboratories, Auditors, Library Director and Executive Staff Members. On behalf of our Institute, I am delighted to express my sincere congratulations to each of you on your successful completion of the courses in the Undergraduate and Graduate Schools. On this occasion, doctoral degrees have been conferred on 79 students, master’s degrees on 110 students, professional master’s degrees on 5 students and bachelor’s degrees on 36 students. In total, 12,177 doctoral degrees, 38,127 master’s degrees and 66 professional master’s degrees have been conferred since 1955, and 17,151 bachelor’s degrees have been conferred since 1932.

Tokyo Institute of Technology, or Tokodai, is highly appreciated by the international community. In the World University Rankings published by a British research organization in 2007, our Institute is rated 90th in the overall ranking, 22nd in technology and 4th among Japanese universities. Our Institute has always been a front runner and played a key role as a reliable leader in science and technology with the long tradition of “manufacturing”. We regard creativity. The mission of our Institute is to cultivate solid base for the advancement of science and technology and to foster creative experts with the ability to integrate and unify diverse knowledge to respond to social needs.

Now I would like to introduce some of the remarkable recent activities of our Institute. Firstly, as part of the reforms focused on Graduate Schools, the establishment of the Education and Research Organization of Information Science is in progress. Secondly, the Center for the Study of World Civilizations has been established to offer various significant lectures on literature, art or music delivered by leading experts, which has been highly appreciated.

In research, twelve projects of our Institute have been chosen to receive grants from the 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) program as well as eight projects selected for the Global COE Program by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT). Associated with these COE programs, unique and outstanding research projects and reforms in doctoral programs have been actively promoted. The most notable project in information science is the completion of “TSUBAME”, one of the fastest-class supercomputers in Asia, which attracts a great deal of interest from researchers across the world. Strategic collaboration with industry and launches of venture companies have also been promoted.

In international collaboration, we have actively cooperated with overseas universities and institutions. Firstly, for example, the International Graduate Program has been launched and about 100 international students from all over the world has been accepted in this academic year. Secondly, the Joint Graduate Course Program with Tsinghua University in China has been successfully extended to doctoral programs. We have also promoted the cooperation with university courses in Thailand and the Philippines. Highly appreciated by the international community as a leading university in science and technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology has provided excellent educational programs and conducted outstanding research to respond to the international expectations.

Now some of you are going to get out into the world, and some of you go on to graduate schools, so here I would like to give you some advice on how to exercise your leadership in difficult situations in this globalized world.

Nowadays the world has been increasingly globalized economically, and the brilliant progress in science and technology has brought about the drastic development in the world of business. Since progress in science and technology is an indispensable basis for national development, each industrialized country invests around 1% of its GDP in science and technology to promote it. Regrettably, Japan invests only 0.5% while the GDP itself tends to decrease gradually. Under these circumstances, we should be fully aware of the importance of science and technology and continue to contribute to society facing various global problems through the utilization of our integrated knowledge.

The development of university depends a lot on human resources. Our close alumni network centered on Kuramae Kogyokai is one of our main strengths. Having over 90,000 graduates in the world, Tokyo Institute of Technology has greatly contributed to global industry. Our Institute is supported by a great number of excellent graduates who actively engage in various fields.

Established as a professional engineering school in 1881, Tokyo Institute of Technology will celebrate the 130th anniversary in 2011. It will be a great opportunity for us to demonstrate our strength to society, industry and the international community through various exciting projects. As a joint project with Kuramae Kogyokai, the construction of a new building called Tokyo Tech Front (TTF) has already started. I strongly expect this building will actually be a “front” runner to lead the whole “130th anniversary project”, i.e., “Tokodai 130”.

We are considering three innovative challenges in Education, Research and Contribution. I do strongly hope that you could watch the future progress of Tokodai through this Tokodai 130 event as one of the graduates.

Finally, I wish to reiterate my hearty congratulations to all of you,

and wish you every success in your future endeavors.

Thank you very much for your attention.