Message from President

I have been working as the President of Tokyo Institute of Technology since October, 2007, and it is an honor for me to serve my alma mater where I taught and conducted research on opto-electronics for more than 30 years.

People in the world desire a high quality of life, a safe society, and a peaceful world. Technology has contributed to an increase in food production, and industry has made life more convenient. Are we living comfortably? I am afraid not quite. We still have misconducts in the system and problems in society; the worst being some people working in that system or society misbehaving. Competitiveness which is supposed to provide better quality services makes our life busier, much to our displeasure. Something is wrong. For instance, in the autumn of 2007, the financial collapse occurred due to over-investment. This triggered an economic crisis that is considered being the biggest breakdown in the world history. The world is changing. Once again the era of science and technology has arrived: science and technology to enhance human life. For that, we must work hard to generate excellent research and to produce highly qualified human resources. Our time has come, the time for Tokyo Institute of Technology. It is time for us to seize the reigns of leadership for the betterment of society!

Tokyo Institute of Technology is the largest science and technology university in Japan with a 128-year history. Established as Tokyo Technical School in 1881, it became Tokyo Technical High School in 1901, which was then located in Kuramae, Tokyo, and in 1929, it acquired the university status as "Tokyo Kogyo Daigaku"' (Tokyo Institute of Technology). It has always been at the frontier of the times and played the pivotal role as a reliable leader in science and technology. Since obtaining a corporate status in 2004, Tokyo Institute of Technology has increasingly impressed people both home and abroad with the quality of education integrated with research and the unique and outstanding research projects.

Our Institute has always responded to societal demands producing excellent research and graduates at three undergraduate faculties, six graduate schools, four research laboratories, and many research/education centers. It has very often been said; "Are you going to study science and technology? Apply for admission to Tokyo Institute of Technology," or "Do you need to recruit science or engineering graduates? Consider Tokyo Institute of Technology graduates first." We are constantly responding to society and drastically changing demands. We actively engage in research and education in the most advanced, integrated, and transformative areas of science and technology. We respect diversity. We have a healthy respect for diversity, as proudly displayed by the diversity of our faculty. Each member takes a leading role in the global academic community.
Twelve projects of our Institute have been selected for the 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program. With these 12 research projects, we aim to form world-class research and education centers. Associated with these COE projects, we have already conducted graduate program reforms offering doctoral students an opportunity to study across departmental boundaries. Following the 21st COE, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT) has established the Global COE Program, a more selective program to strengthen graduate programs. In 2007-2008, 8 programs from our Institute were chosen to receive Global COE funding and another five programs chosen to receive funding from the Support Program for Improving Graduate School Education also from MEXT. We secured funding in 2005 as part of the Super COE Programs from MEXT and established the Integrated Research Institute on the campus. Integrating and unifying diverse knowledge, this institute will address an array of future problems and issues.

The creativity-enhancing education at Tokyo Institute of Technology has resulted in a great number of excellent graduates including Dr. Hideki Shirakawa, the 2000 Nobel laureate in chemistry. Committed to fostering "creative people" with solid and basic aptitude, we offer a unique program for students to participate in production on a voluntary basis. This is developed in association with the Art and Crafts Education and Research Support Center and schools.

Other noteworthy programs includes: (i) the completion of "TSUBAME," one of the fastest class supercomputers in Japan, (ii) the establishment of the Global Edge Institute to train young prospective researchers from all over the world, (iii) the joint program with foreign universities to have the students develop international leadership skills, (iv) various academic partnership programs with overseas universities and institutions, and (v) organizational or strategic collaboration with industry.

Tokyo Institute of Technology is open to the world. Rated 61st in the overall ranking and 21st in technology in the THES-QS 2008 World University Rankings, our Institute is well recognized home and abroad.　Thanks to all the faculty members, staff, and students for their hard work and endeavor. We will continue our efforts toward the realization of comfortable society by advanced science and technology.