The University of Tokyo (Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo) will set up by later this fiscal year a research intelligence organization for collecting and analyzing information with an eye on searching for promising research projects and securing researchers, the Sankei Shimbun has learned. It is extremely unusual for a university to have an organization specializing in collecting and analyzing information. (Abridged)

Yomiuri reported that the Institute of Science Tokyo, a new university to be established in FY2024 through a merger between the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University, is planning to make English its second official language. President Masu of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and President Tanaka of Tokyo Medical and Dental University reportedly told the….Read more

Tokyo, July 21 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s education ministry said Friday it has selected 106 universities and five technical colleges eligible for financial support aimed mainly at encouraging shifts of existing faculties to science-related ones in order to nurture experts in the digital, decarbonization and other growth fields.   The program’s primary targets are private universities, many of which have fewer science….Read more

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) will hold an event showcasing the lives of PhD holders active on the frontlines in various sectors of society. This first-time-ever event will be held in Tokyo on Sept. 13. The event is intended to motivate students to earn doctorates. MEXT is holding the event out of a sense of….Read more

Nikkei staff writers   TOKYO — Japan’s education ministry predicts the number of students entering universities in 2050 will be about 490,000 — some 130,000 fewer than in 2022 — posing an existential threat to many educational institutions unless the gap can be filled by attracting more students from abroad, particularly emerging Asia.   According to the estimate shown to….Read more

AKIRA INUJIMA, HIROYUKI OMOTO and RYO SAEKI, Nikkei staff writers   TOKYO — Japan’s 10 trillion yen ($70 billion) university endowment fund is off to a rough start, posting a deficit of 60.4 billion yen — about $420 million — for its first full fiscal year, which ended in March.   The fund debuted in 2022, with the goal of….Read more

Tsuda University, in Tokyo, announced on its website on June 23 that it will start accepting transgender students who are male on the family register but identify as female in April 2025.   As for other women’s universities, Ochanomizu University began accepting transgender students in fiscal 2020. It was followed by Nara Women’s University, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University, and Notre….Read more

A university in western Japan has submitted to Hiroshima City a request to include foreign students in a registry containing the names of victims of the 1945 atomic bombing of the city.   Hiroshima University said 20 foreigners who came to study at its former institutions were likely exposed to radiation at the time of the bombing.   It conducted….Read more

TOKYO – The University of Tokyo and two other national universities were chosen as candidates to be designated as world-class research institutes eligible for substantial backing from a government fund, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.   A panel of education experts under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology also selected Tohoku University and Kyoto University….Read more

By RYUICHIRO FUKUOKA/ Staff Writer   Tohoku University ranked first for the fourth consecutive year in the Japan University Rankings released in March by Times Higher Education, a British specialist journal.   The Sendai-based university received high marks, among other factors, for having few weak points and for offering one of the most international environments among the country’s national universities.….Read more