University of Tsukuba


The University of Tsukuba, located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, is one of the prestigious national universities. The university has 28 college clusters and schools with around 16,500 students. The main Tsukuba campus covers an area of 258 hectares, making it the second largest single campus in Japan. The branch campus is in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, which offers graduate programs for working adults in the capital and manages K-12 schools in Tokyo that are attached to the university.

Features

The university's academic strength is in STEMM fields, physical education, and related interdisciplinary fields. It is by taking located in Tsukuba Science City which has more than 300 research institutions. The university has had three Nobel laureates, and about 70 athletes, their students and alumni, have participated in the Olympic Games.
It has established interdisciplinary Ph.D. programs in Human Biology and Empowerment Informatics, and the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine, which were created through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's competitive funding projects.
Its Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences is represented on the national Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction.

Internationalization

Their founding philosophy states the University of Tsukuba is "a university which is open to all within and outside of Japan." The university is also known for its internationalization efforts. It has won Japanese government funding projects for internationalization of Japanese universities, including the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Global 30" Project and the "Super Global University Project". In the Super Global University Project, University of Tsukuba won Type A funding, which is for 13 elite Japanese universities to be ranked in the top 100 in global university rankings by 2023. Their initiative includes expanding the number of courses and degree programs taught in English only, sharing faculty members with partner institutions such as National Taiwan University, University of Bordeaux, and University of California, Irvine to promote education and research collaboration, and establishing so-called "Course Jukebox System" which enables their and partner institutions' students to take partner institutions' courses as if they are at their original institution.
In 2004, the university established the Alliance for Research on North Africa as an academic research center with the purpose of promoting comprehensive research concerning the North African Region through integration of humanities and sciences. Since then, ARENA has been expanding its research fields, and the university established a branch office in Tunis, Tunisia in 2006. The University of Tsukuba is also accepting African students through the ABE initiative, which was initiated by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and is bringing 1,000 African graduate students to Japanese universities in five years from 2014. The University of Tsukuba is planning and leading Japan-Africa Academic Network initiative to bring together all the Japanese universities' resources for Africa and to deepen the academic relationship between Japan and Africa.
In May 2008, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development became an opportunity for the African Development Bank and universities in Japan to promote partnership on higher education, science and technology. Donald Kaberuka, the president of the AfDB, and the president of University of Tsukuba signed a memorandum of understanding during the three-day event. In 2009, the University of Tsukuba participated in the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization's affiliated member, and it has been cooperating in the development of education in the ASEAN region. The university is a member of AIMS program, which is to promote regional student mobility among the ASEAN and participated countries including Japan.
As of August 2015, the university has over 300 international inter-university agreements and 13 overseas offices in 12 countries, located in Brazil, China, Germany, France, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Tunisia, Taiwan, United States, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

History

The university was established in October 1973. A forerunner was Tokyo University of Education which was founded in 1872. It was one of the oldest universities in Japan, Tokyo Higher Normal School. In October 2002, the University of Tsukuba merged with the University of Library and Information Science. The School of Library and Information Science and the Graduate School of Library and Information – Media Studies were established.
It has provided several Nobel Prize winners, such as Leo Esaki, Hideki Shirakawa and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. Dr. Satoshi Ōmura was an auditor at Tokyo University of Education.

Academic rankings

Research performance

Tsukuba is one of the leading research institutions in Japan. According to Thomson Reuters, Tsukuba is the 10th best research institutions among all the universities and non-educational research institutions in Japan.
reported that Tsukuba has the 27th highest research standard in Japan in research fundings per researchers in :ja:グローバルCOEプログラム|COE Program. In the same article, it's ranked 11th in the quality of education by :ja:特色ある大学教育支援プログラム|GP funds per student.
It has a good research standard in Economics, as Research Papers in Economics ranked Tsukuba as the eighth best Economics research university in January 2011.

Graduate school rankings

Tsukuba's law school was ranked 19th in 2010 for its passing rate of the Japanese bar examination.
Eduniversal ranked Tsukuba as seventh in the rankings of "Excellent Business Schools nationally strong and/or with continental links" in Japan.

Alumni rankings

According to the :ja:エコノミスト |Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings, graduates from Tsukuba have the 64th best employment rate in 400 major companies in Japan. By contrast, the alumni of Tsukuba's average salary is very high with the 8th best in Japan, according to :ja:プレジデント社|PRESIDENT, Inc.

Popularity and selectivity

Given its high ranking in Japan, the entrance examination to University of Tsukuba is highly competitive. Overall difficulty is currently graded as "A1" or two on a 10-point scale.

Organization

Undergraduate schools and colleges

Malaysia

Politicians