Osaka University
Encyclopedia
, or , is a major national university located in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan as the Osaka Prefectural Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities
Imperial university
-France:Imperial University or University of France refers to the French university re-organisation initiated by Napoleon.-Japan:...

 of Japan. Numerous prominent scientists worked at the Osaka University such as the Nobel Laureate in Physics Hideki Yukawa
Hideki Yukawa
né , was a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate.-Biography:Yukawa was born in Tokyo and grew up in Kyoto. In 1929, after receiving his degree from Kyoto Imperial University, he stayed on as a lecturer for four years. After graduation, he was interested in...

.

History

Academic traditions of the university reach back to , an Edo-period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 school for local citizens founded in 1724, and , a school of Rangaku
Rangaku
Rangaku is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641–1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate’s policy of national...

for samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 founded by Ogata Kōan in 1838. The spirit of the university's humanity sciences is believed to be intimately rooted in Kaitokudo, whereas that of the natural and applied sciences, including medicine, is widely believed to be based on Tekijuku.

Osaka University traces its origin back to 1869 when Osaka Prefectural Medical School was founded in downtown Osaka. The school was later transformed into the Osaka Prefectural Medical College with university status by the University Ordinance (Imperial Ordinance No. 388 of 1918) in 1919. The college merged with the newly-founded College of Science to form Osaka Imperial University(大阪帝國大学) in 1931. Osaka Imperial University was inaugurated as the sixth imperial university in Japan. As part of the University, Osaka Technical College was later included to form the school of Engineering two years later. The university was eventually renamed Osaka University in 1947.

Merging with Naniwa High School and Osaka High School as a result of the government's education system reform in 1949, Osaka University started its postwar era with five faculties: Science, Medicine, Engineering, Letters, and Law. After that, faculties, graduate schools, and research institutes have been successively established. Among these are the School of Engineering Science, the first of its kind among Japanese national universities, which draws upon the excellence of both sciences and engineering disciplines, and the School of Human Sciences, which covers its cross-disciplinary research interest as broadly as psychology, sociology, and education. Built on the then-existing faculties, 10 graduate schools were set up as part of the government's education system reform program in 1953. Two graduate schools, the Graduate School of Language and Culture and the cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional Osaka School of International Public Policy, add to the list, making the number of graduate schools reach 12 in 1994.

In 1993, Osaka University Hospital was relocated from the Nakanoshima campus in downtown Osaka to the Suita campus, completing the implementation of the university's plan to integrate the scattered facilities into the Suita and Toyonaka campuses. In October 2007, a merger between Osaka University and Osaka University of Foreign Studies
Osaka University of Foreign Studies
, abbreviated to OUFS or , , or is a public coeducational research university in Minoh, Osaka, Japan. It is dedicated to area studies and the study of foreign languages and their related cultures.-History:...

 was completed. The merger made Osaka University one of two national universities in the country with a School of Foreign Studies (with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
TUFS is a specialized institution only in foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies, thus it is not as well-known as other big universities such as University of Tokyo and Kyoto University...

). In addition, the merger made the university the largest national university in the country.

In 2009, Osaka University implemented a major revision of its website. The result is a site much more accessible and informative to persons not versed in the Japanese language — a site much more user-friendly to international exchange students, international researchers, and expatriates living in the Osaka area. Currently, thanks to the work of the "Web Design Unit," virtually all Osaka University's web pages come in pairs — a Japanese page and the same page in English. These pairings include frequent updates on symposiums, seminars, and other events open to staff, students and, often, the general public.

Campuses

Suita, Toyonaka and Minoh are the university's three campuses. Home to the university's headquarters, the Suita campus extends across Suita city
Suita, Osaka
is a city located in northern Osaka, Japan. As of August 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 356,751 and the density of 9,880 persons per km². The total area is 36.11 km²....

 and Ibaraki city
Ibaraki, Osaka
is a city located in Osaka, Japan. It is a suburban city of Osaka city and a part of Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Literally Ibaraki in English means Wild Trees or Thorny trees....

 in Osaka prefecture. The Suita campus houses faculties of Human Sciences, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Engineering. It contains the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences and a portion of the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. The campus is also home to the Osaka University Hospital and the Nationwide Joint Institute of Cybermedia Center and Research Center for Nuclear Physics. Because access to the campus by public transportation is relatively inconvenient, automobiles, motorcycles, and bicycles are commonly seen within the campus. While sports activities are primarily concentrated on the Toyonaka campus, tennis activities are concentrated on the Suita campus because of its many tennis facilities.

The Toyonaka campus is home to faculties of Letters, Law, Economics, Science, and Engineering Science. It is also the academic base for Graduate Schools of International Public Policy, Language and Culture, (a portion of) Information Science, and the Center for the Practice of Legal and Political Expertise. All freshmen attend classes on the Toyonaka campus during their first year of enrollment.

The Minoh campus was incorporated following the merger with Osaka University of Foreign Studies
Osaka University of Foreign Studies
, abbreviated to OUFS or , , or is a public coeducational research university in Minoh, Osaka, Japan. It is dedicated to area studies and the study of foreign languages and their related cultures.-History:...

 in October 2007. The Minoh campus is home to School of Foreign Studies, Research Institute for World Languages, and Center for Japanese Language and Culture.

In addition to these three campus, the former Nakanoshima campus, the university's earliest campus located in downtown Osaka, served as the hub for the faculty of medicine until the transfer to the Suita campus was completed in 1993. Starting from April 2004, the Nakanoshima campus has been transformed into the "Nakanoshima Center", serving as a venue for information exchange, adult education classes, and activities involving academic as well as non-academic communities.

Organization

Osaka University has 11 faculties (学部) for undergraduate programs and 15 graduate schools (大学院).

Academic alliances

Osaka University has completed academic exchange agreements with a large number of universities (in 2010, 78) throughout the world and also exchange agreements between schools at Osaka University and schools and institutes in other countries (in 2010, 323). These agreements facilitate international students studying at Osaka University and Osaka University students studying at overseas universities, schools, and institutes. In many cases, students are able to participate in these exchange agreements without paying any additional tuition. Below are examples of some of these universities:

Academic Rankings

Handai 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 3rd in 2009 and 4th in 2008 and 2010 in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities
Truly Strong Universities
The Truly Strong Universities is a ranking of the Japan’s top 100 universities by Toyo Keizai, released annually in October on its business magazine "Toyo Keizai"....

" by Toyo Keizai
Toyo Keizai
is a book and magazine publisher specializing in politics, economics and business, based in Tokyo, Japan.The company is famous for established in 1895, one of three Japanese leading business magazines ranked with published by Nikkei Business Publications and published by DIAMOND.- External...

. In another ranking, Japanese prep school Kawaijuku ranked Handai as the 3rd best university in Japan.

It is recognized as a leading university, especially in the basic sciences, technology and medical field. The university was ranked the 43rd among the world's best universities and the 3rd best Japanese university in 2009, according to the THE-QS World University Rankings. In 2011, it came 45th in the QS World University Rankings
QS World University Rankings
The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004....

, four places higher than the previous year (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is an international ranking of universities published by the British magazine Times Higher Education in partnership with Thomson Reuters, which provided citation database information...

and QS World University Rankings
QS World University Rankings
The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004....

parted ways to produce separate rankings).

Research Performance

Handai is one of the top research institutions in Japan. According to Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...

, Handai is the 3rd best research university in Japan. Its research excellence is especially distinctive in Biology & Biochemistry (1st in Japan, 4th in the world), Materials Science (2nd in Japan, 12th in the world), Physics (3rd in Japan, 22nd in the world), Chemistry (3rd in Japan, 12th in the world), Immunology (3rd in Japan, 28th in the world), and Pharmacology & Toxicology (9th in Japan, 154th in the world).
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