Tokyo Institute of Technology
Encyclopedia
The Tokyo Institute of Technology (informally Tokyo Tech or 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 undergaraduates and 5006 graduate students for 2009-2010. It employs around 1400 faculty members.
Tokyo Tech's main campus is located in the Ookayama on the boundary of Meguro and Ota, 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.
Operating the world-class supercomputer
Tsubame 2.0 , 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.
as the Tokyo Vocational School on May 26, 1881, 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.
, 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.
, 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 renames the School of Scinece 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 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
.
Meguro as the main campus, Tamachi
campus in Shibaura
Minato
and the Suzukakedai campus, located in Nagatsuta
, Midori-ku
in Yokohama
.
in Ookayama. It is the home of Japan's largest science and technology library. The library was founded in 1882, 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.
. 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. 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.
" by Toyo Keizai
. In another ranking, Japanese prep school Kawaijuku ranked Tokyo Tech as the 4th best university in Japan.
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. The university was ranked 31st worldwide according to Global University ranking and 57th in 2011 according to QS World University Rankings
, 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.
, Tokyo Tech is the 8th best research university in Japan. 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).
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
research university located in Greater Tokyo Area
Greater Tokyo Area
The Greater Tokyo Area is a large metropolitan area in Kantō region, Japan, consisting of most of the prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tokyo . In Japanese, it is referred to by various terms, including the , , and others....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
. Tokyo Tech enrolled 4,850 undergaraduates and 5006 graduate students for 2009-2010. It employs around 1400 faculty members.
Tokyo Tech's main campus is located in the Ookayama on the boundary of Meguro and Ota, with its main entrance facing the Ōokayama Station
Ookayama Station
is a railway station in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. The station is right on the border between the wards of Meguro and Ōta.-Station layout:-Adjacent stations:...
. Other campuses are located in Nagatsuta
Nagatsuta Station
is an interchange railway station located in Midori Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is served by the East Japan Railway Company's Yokohama Line, and is 17.9 kilometers from the terminus of the Yokohama Line at Higashi-Kanagawa Station. It is also served by the Tokyu Corporation’s...
and Tamachi
Tamachi
Tamachi is the informal name for the area surrounding Tamachi Station in Minato, Tokyo, generally referring to the districts of Shiba, Shibaura and Mita. The name, meaning literally "field town", probably derives from the earlier presence of rice paddies.-History:During the Edo period Tamachi was...
. Tokyo Tech is organised into 6 schools, within which there are over 40 departments and research centres.
Operating the world-class supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
Tsubame 2.0 , and taking a breakthrough in high-temperature superconductivity
High-temperature superconductivity
High-temperature superconductors are materials that have a superconducting transition temperature above . From 1960 to 1980, 30 K was thought to be the highest theoretically possible Tc...
, 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
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
exchanging students and senior scholars. In 2011 it celebrated the 130th anniversary of its founding.
Foundation and early years (1881-1922)
Tokyo Institute of Technology was founded by the government of JapanGovernment of Japan
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the 1947 constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected...
as the Tokyo Vocational School on May 26, 1881, 14 years after the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
. 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 universityNational university
A national university is generally a university created or run by a government, but which at the same time operates autonomously without direct oversight or control by the state. Some national universities are closely associated with national cultural or political aspirations...
, 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 IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, 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 renames the School of Scinece 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 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
Naoto Kan
is a Japanese politician, and former Prime Minister of Japan. In June 2010, then-Finance Minister Kan was elected as the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and designated Prime Minister by the Diet to succeed Yukio Hatoyama. On 26 August 2011, Kan announced his resignation...
who is a former prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
.
Campuses
Tokyo Tech has three campuses, the Ōokayama campus in ŌokayamaOokayama Station
is a railway station in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. The station is right on the border between the wards of Meguro and Ōta.-Station layout:-Adjacent stations:...
Meguro as the main campus, Tamachi
Tamachi
Tamachi is the informal name for the area surrounding Tamachi Station in Minato, Tokyo, generally referring to the districts of Shiba, Shibaura and Mita. The name, meaning literally "field town", probably derives from the earlier presence of rice paddies.-History:During the Edo period Tamachi was...
campus in Shibaura
Shibaura
is a district of Minato ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The district is located between the eastern side of the Yamanote Line train and Tokyo Bay.Shibaura is the home to a number of major Japanese corporations including Toshiba and Oki...
Minato
Minato, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 1 March 2008, it had an official population of 217,335 and a population density of 10,865 persons per km². The total area is 20.34 km².Minato hosts 49 embassies...
and the Suzukakedai campus, located in Nagatsuta
Nagatsuta Station
is an interchange railway station located in Midori Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is served by the East Japan Railway Company's Yokohama Line, and is 17.9 kilometers from the terminus of the Yokohama Line at Higashi-Kanagawa Station. It is also served by the Tokyu Corporation’s...
, Midori-ku
Midori-ku, Yokohama
is one of the 18 wards of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 176,038 and a density of 6,900 persons per km². The total area was 25.42 km².-Geography:...
in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
.
- Ōokayama Station campus
- Tamachi campus
- Suzukakedai campus
Undergraduate schools
- School of Science
- School of Engineering
- School of Bioscience and Biotechnology
Graduate schools
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering
- Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering
- Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering
- Graduate School of Decision Science and Technology
- Graduate School of Innovation Management
Research laboratories
- Chemical Resources Laboratory
- Precision and Intelligence Laboratory
- Materials and Structures Laboratory
- Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors
- Quantum Nano Electronics Research Centre
Politics and Social sciences
- Centre for Research in Advanced Financial Technology (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Precision and Intelligence Laboratory (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Solutions Research Laboratory
- Integrated Research Institute
- Global Edge Institute (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Productive Leader Incubation Platform
- Academy for Global Leadership
- Centre for Research and Development of Educational Technology (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Research Centre for Educational Facilities
- Creative Research Laboratory
- Research Centre for the Science of Institutional Management of Technology
- Collaboration Centre for Design and Manufacturing (CODAMA)
- Centre for Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Foreign Language Research and Teaching Centre
- Centre for the Study of World Civilisations
- Asia-Africa Biology Research Centre
- Centre for CompView Research and Education
- Career Advancement Professional School
- Organization for Life Design and Engineering
- Centre for Liberal Arts
Engineering and Computing
- Materials and Structure Laboratory (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Fromtier Research Centre
- Imaging Science and Engineering Laboratory
- Global Scientific Information and Computing Centre
- Structural Engineering Research CentreStructural Engineering Research CentreStructural Engineering Research Centre , Chennai is one of the 39 constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in India. It has been able to build excellent facilities and expertise for analysing, designing and testing structures and structural components...
- Super-Mechano Systems R&D Centre
- Centre for Photonic Nano-Device Integrated Engineering
- Photovoltaics Research Center
- Inter-departmental organisation for Informatics
Chemistry and Life sciences
- Chemical Resources Laboratory
- Research Centre for Carbon Recycling and Energy
- Centre for Biologial Resources and Informatics
- International Research Centre of Macromolecular Science
- Bio-Frontier Research Centre
- Emerging Nanomaterial Research Centre
- Centre for Molecular Science and Technology
- The Osmotic Power Research Centre
Physics and Astronomy
- Volcanic Fluid Research Centre (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
- Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors (Tokyo Institute of Technology)Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors (Tokyo Institute of Technology)Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors is a research laboratory for nuclear reactor. For the purpose of studying nuclear science and its application, it was founded in 1956. Three years later, Atomic Science Laboratory, Cockcroft-Walton Accelerator and Atlas Mass Spectrograph were installed in...
- Research Centre for Low Temperature Physics
- Quantum Nanoelectronics Research Centre
- Centre for Urban Earthquake Engineering
- Research Centre for Nanometer-Scale Quantum Physics
- Research Centre for the Evolving Earth and Planets
- Centre for Research into Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems
Other facilities
- Tokyo Tech Archive Initiative
- Health Service Centres
- TITECH Earth Database Centre
- Tokyo Tech Front
- International Student Centre
- Inter-departmental Organization for Environment and Energy
- ICE Cube Centre
Libraries
The main library of Tokyo Tech is the Tokyo Institute of Technology LibraryTokyo Institute of Technology Library
Tokyo Institute of Technology Library is the largest library treating books and journals regarding science and technology in Japan. About 19,000 books and 3,300 journals are taken in this library, and currently 793,000 book and 16,000 journals are kept in the library. Recently, the number of online...
in Ookayama. It is the home of Japan's largest science and technology library. The library was founded in 1882, 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
Government of Japan
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the 1947 constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected...
. The library was renewaled on July 2011.
International graduate programmes
Tokyo Tech runs intensive programmes for obtaining master degree or PhDPHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
. 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. 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 UniversitiesTruly 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 Tokyo Tech as the 4th best university in Japan.
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. The university was ranked 31st worldwide according to Global University ranking and 57th in 2011 according to 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....
, 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.
Research Performance
Tokyo Tech is one of the top research institutions in natural sciences and technology in Japan. According to Thomson ReutersThomson 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...
, Tokyo Tech is the 8th best research university in Japan. 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).