Tokyo Metropolitan University

University rankings
University rankings
Global – Overall
QS World	491–500
THE World	401–500
Regional – Overall
QS Asia[citation needed]	96
THE Asia[citation needed]	33

Tokyo Metropolitan University
東京都立大学
Motto	To pursue the vision of an ideal human society in a metropolis
Type	Public
Established	1949 (reformed in 2005)
Academic staff	796 full-time
Students	9,056
Undergraduates	6,812
Other students	10
Location	Hachioji, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 35°37′00″N 139°22′38″E / 35.616667°N 139.377222°E
Campus	Urban
Colours	Black and blue gray
Website	www.tmu.ac.jp
	Japan Tokyo Metropolis Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan)
	As of May 1, 2008

Tokyo Metropolitan University (東京都立大学, Tōkyō Toritsu Daigaku), often referred to as TMU, is a public research university in Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan.

In contrast to other non-private universities in Tokyo, the university is established under the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and not the national government.

Origin

The origin of Tokyo Metropolitan University was Prefectural Higher School, under the old system of education, established by Tokyo Prefecture in 1929 as the third public higher school. The School was modelled on Eton College, with three years of pre-university advanced course and four years of university regular course.

The seven-year system had the advantage of guaranteeing entrance to the Imperial universities at the age of Middle School. Before the end of the Second World War, many academic elite would start their post-primary education in Tokyo First Middle School, proceed to the First Higher School, and then enroll at Tokyo Imperial University.

Since the jurisdiction control of Tokyo First Middle School and First Higher School were different, however, Tokyo First Middle School attempted to originally establish the prefectural higher school, whereas the other Middle Schools opposed to the said attempt. Prefectural Higher School was established in 1929 located in the same site of Tokyo First Middle School, as a result of the opposition.

Information Centre

In 1932, Prefectural Higher School was relocated to 1–1–1 Yakumo, Meguro, and became known as one of the best higher schools with First Higher School. As the reign of Tokyo Metropolis was enacted in 1943, Prefectural Higher School was renamed to Metropolitan Higher School.

After the reform of the educational system in 1949, Tokyo Metropolitan University was established as a research university consisting of three faculties, namely Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Technology; three years of advanced course was reorganized to Senior High School affiliated to Tokyo Metropolitan University, whereas four years of regular course was restructured into the university proper. Five Prefectural Colleges, namely Tokyo Prefectural College of Technology, Tokyo Prefectural College of Science, Tokyo Prefectural College of Machine Industry, Tokyo Prefectural College of Chemical Industry and Tokyo Prefectural College of Women were also merged with the Tokyo Metropolitan University. In 1957, Faculty of Law and Economics was separated from Faculty of Humanities, and then further divided into separate Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics in 1966.

As expanding its organization, the university was relocated to 1–1–1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji in 1991.

The university signed the student exchange agreement with University of Vienna in 1997.

Tokyo Metropolitan University was reformed in 2005 by integrating three metropolitan universities and one junior college: Tokyo Metropolitan University (東京都立大学, Tōkyō Toritsu Daigaku), Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Technology (東京都立科学技術大学), Tokyo Metropolitan University of Health Sciences (東京都立保健科学大学), and Tokyo Metropolitan Junior College (東京都立短期大学) with subsequent change in its Japanese name, although its English name for the university has not changed since 1949.

History

The following history includes the former institution of Tokyo Metropolitan University.

1949 – Tokyo Metropolitan University was established with three faculties, namely Humanities, Science and Technology
1953 – Master's courses of Anthropology, Social Science, Natural Science and Technology were set up
1955 – Doctoral courses of Anthropology, Social Science, Natural Science and Technology were set up
1957 – Faculty of Law and Economics was set up
1966 – Faculty of Law and Economics was reorganized as Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics
1977 – Centre of Metropolitan Study was set up
1994 – Centre of Metropolitan Study was reorganised as Institute of Metropolitan Study
1996 – Master's course of Metropolitan Science was set up
1998 – Doctoral course of Metropolitan Science was set up
1991 – The campus was transferred from Meguro to Minami-Osawa
2003 – Institute of Social Science launched to provide MBA course (Business school)
2005 – Institute of Social Science launched to provide LLM course (Law school)
2005 – Tokyo Metropolitan University was reformed by integrating three metropolitan universities and one junior college, which consists of 4 faculties, 7 divisions with 21 courses as well as 6 graduate schools (the organization took over the former one) with 36 majors
2006 – Faculty of System Design opened the course of industrial art, and institutes were reorganized
2008 – Faculty of Urban Environment Sciences launched the course of nature- and culture-based tourism, and the Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences launched the major of tourism science
2009 – Faculty of Urban Liberal Arts launched the course of economics
2010 – Graduate School of System Design launched the major of industrial art
2011 – Tokyo Metropolitan University (former) was closed
2014 – Bangkok Office was set up in Bangkok, Thailand^[2]
2016 – Business School will be transferred from Shinjuku Satellite Campus to Marunouchi Satellite Campus with launching the course of Master of Finance

University reform

In the later 1990s, Government and local municipalities facilitated to reform of the administrative scheme and financial management in line with economic bubble burst and financial difficulties due to Japan's progressive low birthrate and longevity. As a part of the said administrative and financial reform, social interest grew on restructuring national and public universities to independent administrative agencies with consolidating them. Tokyo Metropolitan University was also planned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to be consolidated with the aforementioned three metropolitan universities and one junior college.

Name plate of the university before renaming

As a result of Tokyo gubernatorial election in April 2003, Shintaro Ishihara was re-elected as Governor of Tokyo, holding up a promise "I will establish a revolutionary university", and consequently the original restructuring plan was significantly and rapidly changed, in terms of the organization of faculties, course structure, etc. During this process, several faculty members left the university as a sign of protest against the reform.

Faculties (undergraduate)

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Human and Social Sciences
- Sociology
- Social Anthropology
- Social Welfare
- Psychology
- Pedagogy
- Language Sciences
- Japanese Language Education
Department of Humanities
- Philosophy
- History and Archaeology
- Studies of Culture and Representation
- Japanese Cultures
- Chinese Cultures
- English Studies
- German Studies
- French Studies

Faculty of Law

Department of Law
- Division of Law
- Division of Political Science

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Department of Economics and Business Administration
- Economics Program
- Business Administration Program

Faculty of Science

Department of Mathematical Science
Department of Physics
Department of Chemistry
Department of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Urban Environmental Sciences

Department of Geography
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department of Architecture
Department of Applied Chemistry for Environment
Department of Tourism Science
Department of Urban Science and Policy

Faculty of Systems Design

Department of Computer Science
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Department of Industrial Art

Faculty of Health Sciences

Department of Nursing Sciences
Department of Physical Therapy
Department of Occupational Therapy
Department of Radiological Sciences

Graduate schools

Graduate School of Humanities

Department of Behavioral Social Sciences
- Sociology
- Social Anthropology
- Social Welfare
Department of Human Sciences
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Pedagogy
- Language Sciences
- Japanese Language Education
Department of Philosophy, History and Cultural Studies
- Philosophy
  - Philosophy
  - Classical Studies
- History
- Studies of Culture and Representation
Department of Intercultural Studies
- Intercultural Studies of Japanese and Asia
  - Japanese
  - Chinese
- Intercultural Studies of European and American
  - English
  - German
  - French

Graduate School of Law and Politics

Department of Law and Politics
- Division of Law
- Division of Political Science
Law School
- 2-year curriculum
- 3-year curriculum

Graduate School of Management

Department of Management
- Business Administration (MBA) Program
- Economics (MEc) Program
- Finance (MF) Program

Graduate School of Science

Department of Mathematical Sciences
Department of Physics
Department of Chemistry
Department of Biological Sciences

Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences

Department of Geography
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department of Architecture and Building Engineering
Department of Applied Chemistry for Environment
Department of Tourism Science
Department of Urban Science and Policy

Graduate School of Systems Design

Department of Computer Science
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Department of Industrial Art

Graduate School of Human Health Sciences

Department of Nursing Sciences
Department of Physical Therapy
Department of Occupational Therapy
Department of Radiological Sciences
Department of Frontier Health Sciences
Department of Health Promotion Sciences

Campuses

Minami-Osawa Campus (Main campus)
Hino Campus (Faculty of System Design and Graduate School of System Design)

Hino campus
Arakawa Campus (Faculty of Health Sciences and Graduate School of Human Health Sciences)

Arakawa campus
Harumi Campus (Law School)

Harumi campus
Marunouchi Satellite Campus (Business School)

Facilities

Computer Centre and Information Processing Facilities
Science and Technology Research Facilities
The Makino Herbarium
International House
Ogasawara Field Research Station
External Facility in Fujimi-kogen Highlands (two-story log-house)
Bangkok Office

Research centres

Lecturers of the university have been all highly regarded in their respective fields, and the standard of the research carried out by each of them has been considered extremely high. In line with this, research groups that produce outstanding results and have the potential to become international research hubs, or those working in unique fields that are aligned with the university's mission, are designated as "research centers" and given support by the university.

Research Centre for Space Science (Director: Prof. Takaya Ohashi)
Research Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics (Director: Prof. Koichiro Tamura)
Research Centre for Artificial Photosynthesis (Director: Prof. Haruo Inoue)
Research Centre for Gold Chemistry (Director: Prof. Masatake Haruta)
Research Centre for Language, Brain, and Genetics (Director: Prof. Hiroko Hagiwara)
Research Centre for Water System Engineering (Director: Prof. Akira Koizumi)
Research Centre for Community Centric Systems (Director: Prof .Toru Yamaguchi)
Research Centre for Child and Adolescent Poverty Overview (Director: Prof. Aya Abe)

International partner institutions

The university has concluded agreements with overseas educational institutions to promote international cooperation in education and research as well as student exchange.

Asia

China

India

IIT Kharagpur

Indonesia

Malaysia

South Korea

Taiwan

Thailand

Vietnam

Turkey

Sabanci University

Australia

North America

Canada

United States of America

Europe

Finland

University of Jyväskylä

Sweden

Umeå University

Norway

Buskerud and Vestfold University College

Ireland

University College Cork

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences

Germany

France

Lille 1 University
Paris-South 11 University
Rennes 2 University
The International Organization for Research and Education on Mechatronics

Spain

Cardenal Cisneros University College, Alcala University
The University of Alcala
University of A Coruña

Italy

Austria

The University of Vienna

Poland

Hungary

Óbuda University

Bulgaria

Technical University of Sofia

Russia

Lithuania

Siauliai University

Notable alumni

Masataka Banno [ja] (坂野正高 Banno Masataka)^[3]
Yukihiko Yaguchi, Japanese automotive engineer

Notable faculty

Academic reputation

Although its small size and young history in contrast to national universities and several leading private universities, the university has been one of the most reputable institutions in Japan. According to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, it ranks 7th in 2014–2015 among 781 universities in Japan, behind renowned national universities, namely University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Osaka University, Tohoku University and Nagoya University. The university received the highest score of 100.0 for "citations.”

In 2012, Prof. Masatake Haruta was selected as a Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate as a possible winner of the Nobel Prize for his "independent foundational discoveries of catalysis by gold."^[6]