The Tokyo Institute of Technology () was a public university in

Meguro is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It merged with

Tokyo Medical and Dental University was a public university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It merged with the Tokyo Institute of Technology to form the Institute of Science Tokyo on 1 October 2024. Established in 1928, Tokyo Medical and Dental University was the oldest national schoo ...

to form the

Institute of Science Tokyo The Institute of Science Tokyo (; branded as Science Tokyo) is a public university, public research university in Tokyo, Japan. It was officially established on 1 October 2024, by a merger between the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Med ...

on 1 October 2024. The Tokyo Institute of Technology was a Designated National University and a Top Type university of Top Global University Project designated by the

Japanese government The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary state, containing forty- ...

. Tokyo Tech's main campus was located at Ōokayama on the boundary of

and Ota, with its main entrance facing the

Ōokayama Station is a railway station in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. The station is right on the border between the wards of Meguro and Ōta. The station is facing the main campus of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Connected to the station is the Tokyu Hospital. Li ...

. Other campuses are located in Suzukakedai and

Tamachi is the informal name for the area surrounding Tamachi Station in Minato, Tokyo, generally referring to the districts of Shiba, Shibaura, and Mita. History During the Edo period Tamachi was a ''hatamoto'' residential quarter. Rice cultivation ...

. Tokyo Tech was organised into 6 schools, within which there are over 40 departments and research centres. Tokyo Tech enrolled 4,734 undergraduates and 1,464 graduate students for 2015–2016.

History

Foundation and early years (1881–1922)

Tokyo Institute of Technology was founded by the

government of Japan The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive (government), executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary st ...

as the Tokyo Vocational School on May 26, 1881, 14 years after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. To accomplish the quick catch-up to the West, the government expected this school to cultivate new modernized craftsmen and engineers. In 1890, it was renamed "Tokyo Technical School". In 1901, it changed name to "Tokyo Higher Technical School".

Great Kantō earthquake and World War II (1923–1945)

In early days, the school was located in Kuramae, the eastern area of the Greater Tokyo Area, where many craftsmens' workshops had been since the old Shōgun's era. The buildings in Kuramae campus were destroyed by the

Great Kantō earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

in 1923. In the following year, the Tokyo Higher Technical School moved from Kuramae to the present site in Ōokayama, a south suburb of the Greater Tokyo Area. In 1929, the school became Tokyo University of Engineering, later renamed to Tokyo Institute of Technology around 1946, gaining a status of

national university A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...

, which allowed the university to award degrees. The university had the Research Laboratory of Building Materials in 1934, and five years later, the Research Laboratory of Resources Utilisation and the Research Laboratory of Precision Machinery were constructed. The Research Laboratory of Ceramic Industry was made in 1943, and one year before World War Two ended, the Research Laboratory of Fuel Science and the Research Laboratory of Electronics were founded.

Post-War Era (1946–present)

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the new education system was promulgated in 1949 with the ''National School Establishment Law'', and Tokyo Institute of Technology was reorganized. Many three-year courses were turned into four-year courses with the start of the School of Engineering this year. The university started graduate programmes in engineering in 1953. In the following year, the six research laboratories were integrated and reorganised into four new labs: the Research Laboratory of Building Materials, the Research Laboratory of Resources Utilization, the Precision and Intelligence Laboratory and the Research Laboratory of Ceramic Industry, and the School of Engineering was renamed the School of Science and Engineering. Throughout the post-war reconstruction of the 1950s, the high economic growth era of the 1960s, and the aggressive economic era marching to the Bubble Economy of the 1980s, TIT 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 which applied to all national universities. Operating the world-class

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

Tsubame 2.0, and making a breakthrough in

high-temperature superconductivity High-temperature superconductivity (high-c or HTS) is superconductivity in materials with a critical temperature (the temperature below which the material behaves as a superconductor) above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. They are "high- ...

, Tokyo Tech was a major centre for supercomputing technology and condensed matter research in the world. In 2011, it celebrated the 130th anniversary of its founding. In 2014, it joined the edX consortium and formed the Online Education Development Office (OEDO) to create MOOCS, which are hosted on the edX website. In its 130 years, Tokyo Tech has provided scientific researchers, engineers and many social leaders, including

Naoto Kan is a Japanese former politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) from June 2010 to September 2011. Kan was the first Prime Minister since the resignation of Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to ...

who was a former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Campuses

Tokyo Tech has three campuses, Ōokayama campus in Ōokayama

as the main campus,

campus in

Shibaura is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Minato ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The district is located between the eastern side of the Yamanote Line train and Tokyo Bay. Shibaura consists mostly of artificial islands created by the excavation of indust ...

and Suzukakedai campus, located in Nagatsuta, Midori-ku in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

. * Ōokayama campus * Tamachi campus * Suzukakedai campus

Organization

Schools and departments

Tokyo Tech comprises 6 schools, a number of departments and Institute for Liberal Arts. *

School of Science The Medway School of Science is one of the schools of the University of Greenwich in South East England. The School of Science is based on the university's Medway campus in Chatham Maritime in the county of Kent. The School of Science has acti ...

( ja) ** Department of Mathematics ** Department of Physics ** Department of Chemistry ** Department of Earth and Planetary Science *

School of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional development, professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (Diploma in Engineering, Dip.Eng.)and Bachelor of Engineering, ( ...

( ja) ** Department of Mechanical Engineering ** Department of Systems and Control Engineering ** Department of Electrical and Electric Engineering ** Department of Information and Communication Engineering ** Department of Industrial Engineering and Economics * School of Life Science and Technology ( ja) ** Department of Life Science and Technology * School of Computing ( ja) ** Department of Mathematical and Computing Science ** Department of Computer Science * School of Environment and Society ( ja) ** Department of Architecture and Building Engineering ** Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering ** Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering ** Department of Social and Human Sciences ** Technology Innovation Management / Department of Innovation Science *Institute for Liberal Arts

Research laboratories

*Chemical Resources Laboratory *Precision and Intelligence Laboratory *Materials and Structures Laboratory *Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors *Quantum Nano Electronics Research Centre * Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI)

Centers

Politics and social sciences

*Centre for Research in Advanced Financial Technology (Tokyo Institute of Technology) *Precision and Intelligence Laboratory (Tokyo Institute of Technology) *Solutions Research Laboratory *Integrated Research Institute *Global Edge Institute (Tokyo Institute of Technology) *Productive Leader Incubation Platform *Academy for Global Leadership *Centre for Research and Development of Educational Technology (Tokyo Institute of Technology) *Research Centre for Educational Facilities *Creative Research Laboratory *Research Centre for the Science of Institutional Management of Technology *Collaboration Centre for Design and Manufacturing (CODAMA) *Centre for Agent-Based Social Systems Sciences (Tokyo Institute of Technology) *Foreign Language Research and Teaching Centre *Centre for the Study of World Civilisations *Asia-Africa Biology Research Centre *Centre for CompView Research and Education *Career Advancement Professional School *Organization for Life Design and Engineering *Centre for Liberal Arts

Engineering and computing

*Materials and Structure Laboratory (Tokyo Institute of Technology) *Frontier Research Centre *Imaging Science and Engineering Laboratory *Global Scientific Information and Computing Centre *Structural Engineering Research Centre *Super-Mechano Systems R&D Centre *Centre for Photonic Nano-Device Integrated Engineering *Photovoltaics Research Center *Inter-departmental organisation for Informatics

Chemistry and life sciences

*Chemical Resources Laboratory *Research Centre for Carbon Recycling and Energy *Centre for Biological Resources and Informatics *International Research Centre of Macromolecular Science *Bio-Frontier Research Centre *Emerging Nanomaterial Research Centre *Centre for Molecular Science and Technology *The Osmotic Power Research Centre

Physics and astronomy

*Volcanic Fluid Research Centre (Tokyo Institute of Technology) *

Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors (Tokyo Institute of Technology) Laboratory for Zero-Carbon Energy (Institute of Science Tokyo) is a Japanese research laboratory for energy. It was founded in 1956 for the study of nuclear science and its application. History Nuclear Energy period In 1959, the Atomic Scien ...

*Research Centre for Low Temperature Physics *Quantum Nanoelectronics Research Centre *Centre for Urban Earthquake Engineering *Research Centre for Nanometer-Scale Quantum Physics *Research Centre for the Evolving Earth and Planets *Centre for Research into Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems

Other facilities

Asia-Oceania Top University League on Engineering The Asia-Oceania Top University League on Engineering (abbreviated AOTULE, pronounced "our tool") is a league consisting of 13 engineering faculties within Asia and Oceania universities. AOTULE's mission is to improve the quality of its member's ed ...

* Tokyo Tech Archive Initiative *Health Service Centres *TITECH Earth Database Centre *Tokyo Tech Front *International Student Centre *Inter-departmental Organization for Environment and Energy *ICE Cube Centre

Academics

Libraries

The main library was the Tokyo Institute of Technology Library in Ookayama. It was the home of Japan's largest science and technology library. The library was founded in 1882, and it lost nearly 28,000 books during the

in 1923. Moved to Ookayama in 1936, it has been the national science and technology library of Japan. 1,200 students and staff visit the library each day.
It has 674,000 books and 2,500 journals, including 1,600 foreign academic journals; the number of international research collections was the largest in Japan. It provides around 7,000 registered electronic journals each year. The library was therefore recognised for the outstanding national and international importance and awarded 'Centre of foreign journals' by the

. Renewal construction of the library was completed in July 2011.

International graduate programmes

Tokyo Tech runs intensive programmes for obtaining

master degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practi ...

or PhD. Named the Tokyo Tech's International Graduate Program, the programmes are targeted at international students of high academic potential who are not Japanese speakers. Lectures and seminars are given in English mainly by Tokyo Tech's faculty members. Programme starting dates are October or April. Public fundings for these courses are also available; those students who have academic excellence may apply for scholarships from the

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology The , also known as MEXT, is one of the eleven ministries of Japan that compose part of the executive branch of the government of Japan. History The Meiji period, Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871. In January 2001 ...

of Japan.

Academic rankings

General rankings

Tokyo Tech has been ranked 2nd among the Japanese universities according to The ''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'' World University Rankings 2021. Tokyo Tech has also ranked 3rd among the best Japanese universities according to

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

2021. Tokyo Tech has also been ranked 2nd (national) in 2011 in the field of Engineering "Entrance score ranking of Japanese universities-Department of Engineering" by Score-navi. In another ranking, Japanese prep school Kawaijuku ranked Tokyo Tech as the 4th best (overall), 2-3rd best in former semester and 1st in latter semester (Department of Engineering) university in Japan (2012). According to

, Tokyo Tech was ranked 3rd in Japan and internationally ranked 20th in the field of Engineering and Technology, and 51st in Natural science in 2011. The university was ranked 31st worldwide according to Global

University ranking College and university rankings order higher education institutions based on various criteria, with factors differing depending on the specific ranking system. These rankings can be conducted at the national or international level, assessing inst ...

and 57th in 2011 according to

, It was also ranked 31st worldwide according to the Global University Ranking in 2009.

Research performance

Tokyo Tech was one of the top research institutions in natural sciences and technology in Japan. According to

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...

, its research excellence (Pure science only for this information) was especially distinctive in Materials Science (5th in Japan, 24th in the world), Physics (5th in Japan, 31st in the world), and Chemistry (5th in Japan, 22nd in the world). (this ranking includes non-educational institutions) Weekly Diamond also reported that Tokyo Tech has the highest research standard in Japan in terms of research fundings per researchers in COE Program. In the same article, it's also ranked 8th in terms of the quality of education by GP funds per student. In addition, according to the September 2012 survey by

about the general standards in Engineering and Technology field, Tokyo Tech was placed 19th (world), 2nd (national). The Tsubame 2.0, which was a large-scale supercomputer in Tokyo Tech, was ranked 5th of the world best-performed computer. 1st in the world as university's owned one, this supercomputer was used for simulation related to the complex systems such as the dynamics of

planets A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the te ...

or financial systems. As Tokyo Tech has been emphasizing on 'practical' research, Tokyo Tech got the 2nd place at the number of patents accepted (284) during 2009 among Japanese Universities.

Alumni rankings

Alumni of Tokyo Tech enjoy their good success in Japanese industries. According to ( Truly Strong Universities -TSU), the alumni's of Tokyo Tech has been acquiring the highest (1st) employment rate within Japan. According to the Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings and the

PRESIDENT President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

's article on 2006/10/16, graduates from Tokyo Tech have the 2nd best employment rate in 400 major companies, and the average graduate salary was the 9th best in Japan.

École des Mines de Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

ranks Tokyo Tech as 92nd in the world in 2011 in terms of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies. Also, according to the article of

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

- Universities with the most employable students ranking 2012, Tokyo Tech ranked 14th place in the world (2nd in Asia, 1st in Japan).

Popularity and selectivity

Tokyo Tech was one of the most selective universities in Japan. Its entrance examinations are usually considered one of the most difficult in Japan.

Evaluation from Business World

Wildlife

As of 2009, there was a large population of

rose-ringed parakeet The rose-ringed parakeet (''Psittacula krameri''), also known as the ring-necked parakeet, ringneck parrot (in aviculture) or the Kramer parrot, is a medium-sized parrot in the genus ''Psittacula'', of the Family (biology), family Psittacidae. It ...

s residing at the main campus of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Ookayama.

Gallery

Image:TITechAtNight1.jpg, Suzukakedai campus at night Image:TITechAtNight2.jpg, Suzukakedai campus at night Image:TITechAtNight3.jpg, Suzukakedai campus at night

Alumni and faculty

Notes

References

External links

The Tokyo Tech official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokyo Institute Of Technology Universities and colleges established in 1881 Japanese national universities Research institutes in Japan Engineering universities and colleges in Japan Universities and colleges in Yokohama Buildings and structures in Meguro 1881 establishments in Japan Universities and colleges disestablished in the 21st century