President’s Address at the Fall Graduation Ceremony 2009

Kenichi Iga
President, Tokyo Institute of Technology
(September 25, 2009)

It is my great pleasure to hold the 2009 Fall Graduation Ceremony of Tokyo Institute of Technology in presence of Academic and Executive Staff Members. I am delighted to express my sincere congratulations on your successful completion of the courses in the Undergraduate and Graduate Schools. On this occasion, doctoral degrees have been conferred on 88 students, master’s degrees on 123 students, professional master’s degrees on 13 students and bachelor’s degrees on 37 students. In total, 7,838 doctoral degrees, 39,711 master’s degrees and 102 professional master’s degrees have been conferred since 1955, and 53,371 bachelor’s degrees have been conferred since 1929.

The mission of Tokyo Institute of Technology, or Tokodai, 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.
Our Institute is highly appreciated by the international community. In the World University Rankings published by the Times Higher Education-QS in 2008, our Institute is rated 61st in the overall ranking and 4th among Japanese universities, and in technology, rated 21st overall and 2nd in Japan.

Now I would like to introduce some of the remarkable recent activities of our Institute.

In research, nine projects of our Institute have been selected for the Global Center of Excellence (COE) Program. 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 progress of “TSUBAME”, one of the fastest-class supercomputers in Japan, which attracts a great deal of interest from researchers across the world.

In international collaboration, the International Graduate Program has been launched and about 100 international students from all over the world has been accepted every 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.

We have formulated “Vision 2009”: A Vision for the Future of Tokyo Institute of Technology, focusing on the next ten years, with a view to enabling the Institute to fulfill this mission over the long term and contribute to ongoing world development in the midst of the unprecedented difficulties facing humankind. “Vision 2009” clarifies the “shape” of the Institute we aspire to, and comprises guidelines for achieving our long-term goal: to realize a truly world-class science and engineering university.

Our Institute regards nurturing “knowledgeable, skilled, ambitious, peace-minded and harmony-seeking scientific creators of the times” to be its primary objective. We will endeavor to enhance the Institute’s overall standing from a global perspective, prioritize strengthening fields capable of contributing to society, and create new values. We will respect freedom and diversity, pursue fairness, and strive to engender the trust of the world.

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, a new building called Tokyo Tech Front (TTF) was constructed and opened last May. 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.