Tokyo Institute of Technology

{{Infobox University |name = Tokyo Institute of Technology |native_name = 東京工業大学 |image_name = TIT-logo.png |established = 1881

               =  1929

|type = Public (National) |city = [[Meguro, Tokyo|Meguro] Yokohama] |state = [[Tokyo] Kanagawa] (headquarters) |country = Japan |undergrad = 4940 |postgrad = 5096 |faculty members = 1141 |campus = Urban |colors = Royal Blue (DIC-641)   |mascot = None |free_label = |free = |website = http://www.titech.ac.jp/ }}

Suzukakedai campus at night

Suzukakedai campus at night

Suzukakedai campus at night

Tokyo Institute of Technology (東京工業大学, Tōkyō Kōgyō Daigaku), usually called Tokodai (東工大, Tōkōdai) or Tokyo Tech, is the largest institution of higher learning in Japan dedicated to science and technology. Tokyo Institute of Technology is recognized as a leading university, especially in natural science and engineering field. The university was ranked 31st worldwide according to Global University ranking and 60th in 2010 according to QS World University Rankings, who placed it 23rd in Engineering & IT and 64th in Natural Sciences.

The institute has three campuses, the Ōokayama campus in Ōokayama, Meguro being the main campus. The other two campuses are the Tamachi campus, located in Shibaura, Minato and the Suzukakedai campus, located in Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama.

The university is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia exchanging students and senior scholars.

History

Tokyo Institute of Technology was founded 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 Meiji government expected this school to cultivate new modernized craftsmen and engineers. In early days, the school was located in Kuramae, the eastern area of Tokyo, where many craftsmens' workshops had been since the old Shogun's era. But its campus was ruined by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. In 1929, the school was moved to Ookayama, a south suburb of Tokyo, and was elevated to the status of national university. After World War II, the new educational system was promulgated in 1949 and Tokyo Institute of Technology was reorganized. 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 [1] which applies to all national universities.

Schools and laboratories

Undergraduate schools

The Centennial Hall in Ōokayama campus

• 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 Center [2]

Notable alumni

• Toshitada Doi - robot Aibo pioneer, co-inventor Compact Disc
• Toshio Doko - former chairman of Japan Business Federation
• Shoji Hamada - potter, Living National Treasure of Japan
• Shigeo Hirose - pioneer of robotics technology
• Toshio Ikeda - former Fujitsu executive director, pioneer of computer production
• Satoru Iwata - CEO of Nintendo
• Naoto Kan - current Prime Minister of Japan (2010-)
• Kanjiro Kawai - potter, refused Living National Treasure designation
• Akitoshi Kawazu - game producer, creator of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
• Kenichi Ohmae - business and corporate strategist
• Keisuke Serizawa - textile designer, Living National Treasure of Japan
• Kazuo Shinohara - architect, former professor
• Hideki Shirakawa - Nobel laureate (Chemistry, 2000)
• Toshikazu Sunada - mathematician
• Hiroshi Takahashi - architect
• Kenjiro Takayanagi - pioneer in the development of television
• Takeshi Takei - co-inventor of ferrite magnet, former professor
• Saburo Tanaka - founder of Kinema Junpo, the oldest film magazine in Japan
• Takaaki Yoshimoto - poet, literary critic, philosopher

External links

• The official TiTech web site