Two national universities, Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University, have decided to start talks for integration.
Both universities are "designated national universities" designated by the government as having the highest level of research capacity in Japan, and it will be the first time that the 10 designated national universities are integrated. .
Why was the unprecedented plan to integrate a large-scale national university come up?
Our reporter Noshu, who is in charge of education, explains the background and future prospects in detail.
Q: Sudden announcement Why did the integration plan come up?
A: It seems that the decision to start talks for integration was made after repeated discussions between President Kazuya Masu of Tokyo Institute of Technology and President Yujiro Tanaka of Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
Regarding the merits of the integration, the two universities said, "In addition to strengthening the priority areas and strategic areas of each university, we can combine various fields of natural science with free ideas to create new academic fields."
The aim of the two universities is to enhance research capabilities, and it is conceivable that a wide range of research will be conducted by combining the research areas of science and engineering, which have each honed their expertise, as well as medicine and dentistry. increase.
According to interviews with people involved, the merger could happen as early as 2024.
Q: What kind of form will university integration take?
A: It seems there are mainly two.
(1) Integrating both the university and the operating corporation to form a new university (2) Retaining the two universities and
merging
only the operating corporation
It seems that consideration is underway, including the possibility of becoming a university with a new name.
In the case of (1), the creation of a new university will have a large impact on the surroundings, and it is thought that the synergistic effect of the integration will be more likely to occur.
There is a method of merging one of the two universities into one, so to speak, like an absorption-type merger, and a method of abolishing two universities and creating a new one. Various procedures are required.
(2) became possible after the 2019 revision of the law.
Also known as the "umbrella method," there are multiple achievements at other universities.
Both universities say that ``the final decision is left to future discussions between the two corporations,'' including whether to merge.
Q: What are the characteristics of the two universities?
A:Both of them have been designated as “Designated National Universities” by the government for having the highest level of research in Japan.
The Tokyo Institute of Technology has three campuses in Tokyo and Yokohama City, with a total of over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Currently, the undergraduate and graduate schools are unified, and there are six "faculties" such as science and engineering, and 90% of university students go on to graduate school, making it one of the leading science and engineering universities in Japan.
The results of his research have been highly evaluated internationally. In 2016, Honorary Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi clarified the mechanism of "autophagy," which breaks down proteins that are not needed in the body's cells and uses them as energy again.・Received the Physiology Prize.
On the other hand, Tokyo Medical and Dental University has campuses in Tokyo and Konodai, Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, and has more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Established in 1928 as "Tokyo High School of Dentistry", this is also a university with a long history.
In addition to playing a central role in clinical practice, such as accepting severely ill COVID-19 patients at university hospitals, we are also producing results in research on new mutant viruses such as the Omicron strain.
A major feature of this time is that both are top-class universities in science.
In the past, many universities were integrated in order to improve management issues in the face of the declining birthrate.
This time, there were voices of surprise among the people involved as the universities with sufficient achievements might be united.
In the background of such an integration concept, it is believed that a national project to increase the international competitiveness of the university is involved.
Q: What is a national project?
A: It is a "university fund" established by the government.
We will invest 10 trillion yen in funds secured through FILP and other means, and use the investment profits to support universities, with a target of 300 billion yen annually.
Only a few universities that have been certified as "International Universities for Excellence" are eligible for support, and the requirements for certification include producing internationally excellent research results and growing the business scale by 3% annually. increase.
The call for applications for this “International University of Excellence” will begin within the year.
If you are selected, you will receive tens of billions of yen in annual support for a long period of time, and you will be able to carry out high-quality research.
The two universities are expected to pursue an integrated plan and further enhance their research capabilities in fields such as science and engineering, medicine, and dentistry with a view to public recruitment.
Q: What kind of university integrations have there been so far?
A: The integration of national universities accelerated around 2004 when they were separated from national organizations and incorporated.
In 2003, Tokyo University of Mercantile Marine and Tokyo University of Fisheries merged to form Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, and in 2007, Osaka University and Osaka University of Foreign Studies became Osaka University. 29 colleges merged into 14 colleges during the year.
Since 2019, it has become possible for a single corporation to operate multiple universities (umbrella method), and there are a number of cases in which only the corporations are integrated while the universities remain.
Three universities, Nagoya University and Gifu University in 2020, Otaru University of Commerce, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, and Kitami Institute of Technology in the spring of 2022, as well as Nara Women's University and Nara University of Education, will be integrated into one corporation. .
On the other hand, in private universities, Keio University merged with Kyoritsu University of Pharmacy in 2008 to establish the Keio University Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and we are currently discussing integration with Tokyo Dental University.
Q: Declining international research capabilities Where are Japanese universities currently located?
A: In recent years, it has been pointed out that we are lagging behind overseas universities.
The University of Tokyo ranks 35th, and
Kyoto University ranks 61st in
the world university ranking compiled by the British journal Times Higher Education based on indicators such as research content and the number of citations of papers.
There are only two universities in the top 100 from Japan.
▽ Tohoku University from 201st to 250th,
▽ Osaka University and Tokyo Institute of Technology from 301st to 350th, and Tokyo
Medical and Dental University from 501st to 600th.
On the other hand, ▽ 1st place is the University of Oxford in the UK,
▽ 2nd place is California Institute of Technology in the United
States and ▽ Harvard University in the United States.
According to the survey results of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) released on the 9th of this month, the number of "Top 1% corrected papers" is an index that indicates papers that are cited by other papers and are attracting more attention. China surpassed the United States to take first place for the first time in 2018, and Japan ranked 10th, the lowest ever.
Q: Why is research capacity declining?
A: Specially Appointed Professor Motohisa Kaneko of the University Research Center of the University of Tsukuba said as follows.
“One of the main reasons is the lack of research funding, which is one of the things that needs to be improved. There is also a system in which the university itself earns money.Since China is growing economically and is circulating funds to invest in universities, the results are also clearly visible.We are separated from the United States and China. Japan's situation is relatively low, and it cannot be solved without increasing the budget and investment.In a sense, the "university fund" in Japan is a desperate measure to generate competitive funds through FILP. In addition, universities are a closed organization, and it is difficult to offer excellent young researchers good posts and salaries. Another issue is that it is difficult to build a network with
Q: Can this university concept bring about a stir in this situation?
A: Specially Appointed Professor Kaneko said, "I would like to focus on concrete plans and what can be done, rather than what can be done by integrating them in form."
Competition among domestic universities is expected over the “university fund,” and it is conceivable that this consolidation plan will further intensify competition.
I would like to pay close attention to how the integration plan will materialize, whether it will be beneficial to the two universities, and what kind of impact it will have on other universities.