Tohoku University

Tohoku University , abbreviated to Tohokudai , located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan, is a Japanese national university. It is the third oldest Imperial University in Japan and among the National Seven Universities. It is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan, and one of the top fifty universities in the world. 

In 2009, Tohoku University had ten colleges within the university, including fifteen departments with graduate students, with a total enrollment of 17,949 students. The university's three core values are "Research First,  "Open-Door ," and "Practice-Oriented Research and Education ."

International degree programs taught in English:

In 2009, Tohoku University was one of 13 universities selected by the Japanese government to lead the internationalisation of higher education in Japan. This venture, known as the Global 30 Project, takes the form of new international degree courses taught wholly in English, at both undergraduate and graduate level. At Tohoku University, this initiative is known as the Future Global Leadership Program (FGL)

Undergraduate Courses:

Degrees taught in English at the undergraduate level include the International Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Course (IMAC-U), the Applied Marine Biology Course (AMB), and the Advanced Molecular Chemistry Course (AMC).

Graduate Courses:

Courses taught in English at the graduate level include the International Program in Economics and Management (IPEM), the International Graduate School of Accounting Policy (IGSAP), the International Graduate Program for Advanced Science (IGPAS), the Network Medicine Course, the Basic Medicine Course, the Interface Oral Health Science Course, the International Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Course (IMAC-G), the International Materials Science and Engineering Course (IMSE), the International Doctoral Program in Engineering, Information Sciences and Environmental Studies, the International Graduate Program in Language Sciences, the International Course of Life Sciences, the Information Technology and Science Course, the International Program for Environmental Sustainability Science (IPESS), and the International Post-Graduate Program in Human Security.

History Tohoku University :

The origin of the university was Meirin-yokendo, which was founded as a medical school in Sendai in 1736. It was reorganized a few times. Later it became Sendai Medical College; this was the forerunner of the medical department of the university.

On June 22, 1907, the university was established under the name Tohoku Imperial University by the Meiji government as the third Imperial University of Japan, following the Tokyo Imperial University (1877) and the Kyoto Imperial University (1897). From its start, it has advocated "Open-door" policies—it was the first university in Japan to accept female students and foreign students.

In September 1907, it set up the faculty of Agriculture in Sapporo; the Sapporo Agricultural College .

It set up the Science Department in 1911, and the Medical Department (formerly the Sendai Medical College) in 1915. In 1918 it ceded the Faculty of Agriculture to Hokkaido Imperial University. It subsequently launched Faculties of Engineering in 1919, and Law and Literature in 1922.

In 1947 the university assumed its current name, Tohoku University, acquired a new Faculty of Agriculture. In 1949, the Faculty of Law and Literature was split to form new faculties of Law, Literature, and Economics. A Faculty of Education was added in 1949, Dentistry in 1965, and Pharmacy in 1972. Tohoku has been a national university corporation since April 2004.

11March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake &tsunami:

Subsequent to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the university was declared closed until further notice, but with a tentative re-opening date of the end of the following April. The Aobayama, Katahira, Amamiya, and Kawauchi campuses are all at least 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from the ocean, towards the mountains, and therefore suffered no damage resulting from the tsunami. No deaths or serious injuries within the faculty and student body were reported on campus grounds. However, earthquake damage lead to the closure of 27 buildings and caused millions of dollars of damage to equipment. Classes have resumed normally since early May 2011 and plans for restoring, reinforcing or replacing damaged buildings are underway.

The radiology department has been actively measuring radiation levels throughout the city of Sendai since the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant meltdown, which is about 100 kilometers south. So far no alarming levels of radiation have been detected.

Academic Rankings:

University rankings (overall)

Toyo Keizai National General 7

Kawaijuku National General 5

T. Reuters National  Research 4

WE National  Employment 21

Shimano National Selectivity SA

QS Asia

(Asian Ranking version) General 9

ARWU Asia      Research 8

THE World       General 132

QS World               General 70

ARWU World   Research 84

ENSMP World   Alumni 13

University rankings (by subject)

Social Sciences & Humanities

LAW

Asahi National  Research 8

BE Success National Qualification 10

BE Pass rate National Qualification 9

BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT

Eduni MBA National General 15

Eduni MBA World    General 536

Natural Sciences & Technology

Engineering

Kawaijuku National General 5

QS World     General 56

MATERIALS SCIENCE

T.Reuters National   Research 1

T.Reuters World Research 3

PHYSICS

T.Reuters National   Research 2

T.Reuters World       Research 10

CHEMISTRY

T.Reuters National   Research 4

T.Reuters World       Research 20

BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY

T.Reuters National   Research 7

T.Reuters World       Research 113

ARCHITECTURE

ARE Success National    Qualification 17

Life Sciences

IMMUNOLOGY

T.Reuters National    Research 6

T.Reuters World       Research 142

PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY

T.Reuters National    Research 3

T.Reuters World             Research 64

* T. Reuters World rankings include non-educational institutions

Tohoku University 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 6th in 2009 and 7th in 2010 in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities" by Toyo Keizai. In another ranking, Japanese prep school Kawaijuku ranked Tohoku as the 5th best university in Japan.

According to ARWU, Tohoku University was ranked 5th overall in Japan and internationally ranked 20th in the field of Engineering and Technology, and 39th in Natural science in 2009. In the 2011 QS Asian Universities Rankings Tohoku was placed 9th, while in the 2011 QS World University Rankings the university rose to 70th having dropped out of the top 100 in 2010 to 102nd, and having been 97th in the 2009 THE-QS World University Rankings (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings).

It was also ranked 49th worldwide according to the Global University Ranking in 2009.

Research Performance:

Tohoku is one of the top research institutions in Japan. According to Thomson Reuters, Tohoku is the 4th best research university in Japan. Its research excellence is especially distinctive in Materials Science (1st in Japan, 3rd in the world), Physics (2nd in Japan, 10th in the world), Pharmacology & Toxicology (3rd in Japan, 64th in the world) and Chemistry (6th in Japan, 20th in the world).

Weekly Diamond also reported that Tohoku has the 11th highest research standard in Japan in terms of research funding per researchers in COE Program. In the same article, it's also ranked 9th 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 Tohoku was placed 3rd (research planning ability 9th//informative ability of research outcome 2nd/ability of business-academia collaboration 2nd) in this ranking.

According to the Qs World university rankings　on 2012/9 surveyed about the general standards in Engineering&Technology field, Tohoku university was placed 56th (world), 5th(national).

As Tohoku University has been emphasizing on 'practical' research, Tohoku got the top place at the number of patents accepted  during 2009 among Japanese Universities.

Graduate school Rankings:

Tohoku Law School is one of the most famous Law schools in Japan, as it was ranked 9th in the passing rate of Japanese Bar Examination in 2010.

Eduniversal ranked Tohoku Business school as 6th in the rankings of "Excellent Business Schools nationally strong and/or with continental links " in Japan.

Alumni Rankings:

According to the Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings, graduates from Tohoku have the 21st best employment rate in 400 major companies in Japan.

Mines ParisTech : Professional Ranking World Universities ranks Tohoku University as 13th in the world in 2011 in terms of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies.

Popularity and Selectivity:

Tohoku is one of the most selective universities in Japan. Its entrance difficulty is usually considered as one of the top in Japan.

Campuses:

City locator 14.svgKawauchi

City locator 14.svgAobayama

City locator 14.svgKatahira

City locator 14.svgAmamiya

City locator 14.svgSeiryo

City locator 14.svg Campus locations

Principal five campuses are in the Sendai City, Japan;

Katahira:

Administration Unit. and Principal institutes

Kawauchi

North-Kawauchi; The freshmen and sophomore of all undergraduates

South-Kawauchi; Law, Education, Economics, Letters

Seiryo 

Medicine, Dentistry

Aobayama 

Science, Engineering, Pharmacy

Amamiya 

Agriculture

Amamiya campus and some institutes are planned to transfer from the present place to the future New-Aobayama campus.

Organization:

Graduate School of Engineering (Research Lab Complex)

Faculties

Arts and Letters

Education

Law

Economics

Science

Medicine

Dentistry

Pharmaceutical Sciences

Engineering

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Information and Intelligent Systems

Applied Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Bio molecular Engineering

Materials Science and Engineering

Civil Engineering and Architecture

Agriculture

Graduate Schools

Arts and Letters

Education

Law

Economics and Management

Science

Medicine

Dentistry

Pharmaceutical Sciences

Engineering

Agricultural Sciences

International Cultural Studies

Information Sciences

Life Sciences

Environmental Studies

Educational Informatics Research Division / Education Division