Tokyo Institute of Technology
Tokyo Institute of Technology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tokyo Institute of Technology (東京工業大学 Tōkyō Kōgyō Daigaku?, informally Tokyo Tech, Tokodai or TIT) is a public research university located in Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science and technology. Tokyo Tech enrolled 4,850 undergraduates and 5,006 graduate students for 2009–2010.[1] It employs around 1,400 faculty members.
Tokyo Tech's main campus is located in the Ōokayama on the boundary of Meguro and Ota[disambiguation needed 
], with its main entrance facing the Ōokayama Station. Other campuses are located in Nagatsuta and Tamachi. Tokyo Tech is organised into 6 schools, within which there are over 40 departments and research centres.[2]
Operating the world-class supercomputer Tsubame 2.0,[3] and taking a breakthrough in high-temperature superconductivity, Tokyo Tech is a major centre for supercomputing technology and condensed matter research in the world.
Tokyo Tech is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia exchanging students and senior scholars. In 2011 it celebrated the 130th anniversary of its founding.[4]
History
Foundation and early years (1881–1922)
Tokyo Institute of Technology was founded by the government of Japan as the Tokyo Vocational School on May 26, 1881,[5] 14 years after the Meiji Restoration. To accomplish the quick catch-up to the West, the government expected this school to cultivate new modernized craftsmen and engineers. In 1890, it was renamed Tokyo Technical School. In 1901, it changed name to Tokyo Higher Technical School.
Great Kanto Earthquake and World War II (1923–1945)
In early days, the school was located in Kuramae, the eastern area of the Greater Tokyo Area, where many craftsmens' workshops had been since the old Shogun's era. The buildings in Kuramae campus were destructed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. In the following year, the Tokyo Higher Technical School moved from Kuramae to the present site in Ookayama, a south suburb of the Greater Tokyo Area. In 1929 the school became Tokyo Institute of Technology, gaining a status of national university, which allowed the university to award degrees. The university had the Research Laboratory of Building Materials in 1934, and its five years later the Research Laboratory of Resources Utilisation and the Research Laboratory of Precision Machinery were constructed. The Research Laboratory of Ceramic Industry was made in 1943, and one year before the World War Two finished the Research Laboratory of Fuel Science and the Research Laboratory of Electronics were made.
Post War Era (1946–present)
After World War II, the new educational system was promulgated in 1949 with the National School Establishment Law, and Tokyo Institute of Technology was reorganized. Many 3-years courses were turned into 4-years courses with the start of the School of Engineering in this year. The university started graduate programmes in engineering 1n 1953. In the following year, the above 5 research laboratories were integrated and reorganised into new 4 laboratories: the Research Laboratory of Building Materials, the Research Laboratory of Resources Utilization, the Precision and Intelligence Laboratory and the Research Laboratory of Ceramic Industry, and the School of Engineering was renamed to School of Science and Engineering.
Throughout the post-war reconstruction of the 1950s, the high economic growth era of 1960s, and the aggressive economic animal's era marching to the Bubble Economy of the 1980s, it kept providing Japan its leading engineers, researchers, and business persons. Since April 2004, it has been semi-privatized into the National University Incorporation of Tokyo Institute of Technology under a new law[6] which applied to all national universities.
In its 130 years, Tokyo Tech has provided not only scientific researchers and engineers but also many social leaders, including Naoto Kan who is a former prime minister.
Campuses
The main building of Ookayama Campus
Tokyo Tech has three campuses, the Ōokayama campus in Ōokayama Meguro as the main campus, Tamachi campus in Shibaura Minato and the Suzukakedai campus, located in Nagatsuta, Midori-ku in Yokohama.
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Ōokayama Station campus
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Tamachi campus
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Suzukakedai campus
Organisation
Undergraduate schools
The Centennial Hall in Ōokayama campus
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School of Science
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School of Engineering
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School of Bioscience and Biotechnology
Graduate schools
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Graduate School of Science and Engineering
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Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology
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Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering
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Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering
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Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology
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Graduate School of Innovation Management
Research laboratories
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Chemical Resources Laboratory
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Precision and Intelligence Laboratory
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Materials and Structures Laboratory
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Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors
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Quantum Nano Electronics Research Centre[7]
Politics and Social sciences
Engineering and Computing
Chemistry and Life sciences
Physics and Astronomy
Other facilities
Academics
Libraries
The main library of Tokyo Tech is the Tokyo Institute of Technology Library in Ookayama. It is the home of Japan's largest science and technology library. The library was founded in 1882,[8] and it lost nearly 28,000 books during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Moved to Ookayama in 1936, it has been the national science and technology library of Japan.
1,200 students and staff visit the library each day.
It has 674,000 books and 2,500 journals, including 1,600 foreign academic journals; the number of international research collections is the largest in Japan. It provides around 7,000 registered electric journals each year. The library is therefore recognised for the outstanding national and international importance and awarded 'Centre of foreign journals' by the government of Japan. The library was renewaled on July 2011.
International graduate programmes
Tokyo Tech runs intensive programmes for obtaining master degree or PhD. Called the Tokyo Tech's International Graduate Programme, the programmes are targeted at international students of high academic potential who are not Japanese speakers. Lectures and seminars are given in English mainly by Tokyo Tech's faculty members.[9] Programme starting dates are October or April. Public fundings for these courses are also available; those students who have academic excellence may apply for scholarships from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.
Rankings
Tokyo Tech is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It can be seen in the several rankings such as shown below.
General rankings
The university has been ranked 8th in 2008 and 13th in 2009–2010 in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities" by Toyo Keizai.[10] In another ranking, Japanese prep school Kawaijuku ranked Tokyo Tech as the 4th best university in Japan.[11]
According to ARWU, Tokyo Tech was ranked 6th overall in Japan and internationally ranked 37th in the field of Engineering and Technology, and 51–75th in Natural science in 2009.[27][28] The university was ranked 31st worldwide according to Global University ranking[29] and 57th in 2011 according to QS World University Rankings,[30] who placed it 20th in Engineering & IT and 51st in Natural Sciences.
It was also ranked 31st worldwide according to the Global University Ranking in 2009.[29]
Research Performance
Tokyo Tech is one of the top research institutions in natural sciences and technology in Japan. According to Thomson Reuters, Tokyo Tech is the 8th best research university in Japan.[12] Its research excellence is especially distinctive in Materials Science (5th in Japan, 24th in the world),Physics (5th in Japan, 31st in the world), and Chemistry (5th in Japan, 22nd in the world).[31]
Weekly Diamond also reported that Tokyo Tech has the highest research standard in Japan in terms of research fundings per researchers in COE Program.[32] In the same article, it's also ranked 8th in terms of the quality of education by GP funds per student.
In addition, Nikkei Shimbun on 2004/2/16 surveyed about the research standards in Engineering studies based on Thomson Reuters, Grants in Aid for Scientific Research and questionnaires to heads of 93 leading Japanese Research Centers, and Tokyo Tech was placed 7th (research planning ability 7th/informative ability of research outcome 5th/ability of business-academia collaboration 4th) in this ranking.[33]
The Tsubame, which is a large scale supercomputer in Tokyo Tech, was ranked one of the world best-performed computer. this supercomputer is used for simulation related to the complex systems such as the dynamics of planets or financial systems.
As Tokyo Tech has been emphasizing on 'practical' research, Tokyo Tech got the 2nd place at the number of patents accepted (284) during 2009 among Japanese Universities.[34]
Alumni rankings
Alumni of Tokyo Tech enjoy their good success in Japanese industries. According to the Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings and the PRESIDENT's article on 2006/10/16, graduates from Tokyo Tech have the 2nd best employment rate in 400 major companies, and the average graduate salary is the 9th best in Japan.[35][36] École des Mines de Paris ranks Tokyo Tech as 92nd in the world in 2011 in terms of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies.[37]
Popularity and Selectivity
Tokyo Tech is one of the most selective universites in Japan. Its entrance difficulty is usually considered as one of the top in Japan.[38][39]
Nikkei BP has been publishing the ranking system "Brand rankings of Japanese universities" every year, composed by the various indications related to the power of brand, and Tokyo Tech has been ranked 6th (and 3rd among national universities) in Greater Tokyo Area in 2009–2010.[14]
Gallery
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Suzukakedai campus at night
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Suzukakedai campus at night
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Suzukakedai campus at night
| Author: | Bling King |
| Published: | May 19th 2012 |
| Modified: | May 19th 2012 |
