Sixty-eight years ago, Okayama University was founded as a comprehensive university by a group of institutions of higher education that have played historical roles, including the Okayama-Han(domain) Medical Training School dating from the days of the Tokugawa shogunate. In 2020, our university’s Medical School will celebrate the 150th anniversary of its founding.
During its long history, Okayama University has managed to develop on a grand scale, with 11 Faculties, 8 Graduate schools, 3 Authorized Research Institutes, a University Hospital and Attached Schools. Our university has broad richly verdant campus in the heart of Okayama City, which has such a mild climate called “The Sunny Country.” Currently about 20,000 students, including exchange students, and faculty members devote themselves to studies in this felicitous environment.
Okayama University’s founding philosophy is expressed as “Creation of advanced knowledge and inheritance of precise knowledge.” That is, to promote stable, sustainable advancement of human society, we must always build new knowledge bases. As a seat of learning open to the public, Okayama University would like to give birth to advanced knowledge through educational, research and philanthropic activities, pass along precise knowledge to subsequent generations and contribute to the development of human society.
Okayama University is bringing this philosophy to realization through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Top Global University Project by encouraging autonomous study by its students and promoting creation of an environment and system that allows them to stretch their wings as performers able to play an active role globally. For instance, In October 2017, Okayama University launched the Discovery Program for Global Learners, a four-year Bachelor's program leading to a Bachelor’s of Arts and Science. The Discovery Program has an option of pursuing academic training in an English-medium curriculum, and a greater focus on nurturing students to develop the skills and sensibilities necessary to tackle the challenges of a globalized world. Each year, a mixture of students from Japan and abroad will join the program.
As a research university we have been chosen for MEXT’s “Program for Promoting the Enhancement of Research Universities” and have been selected by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) as a “Base for Creating Innovative Medical Technology.” While promoting support for efforts to unite divergent fields—a distinctive feature of our university—we produce world-class scientific research results.