Education and Research

World-Recognized Top-Level Education and Research

Selected in Two Categories for the 21st Century COE Program

The 21st Century COE Program is a new project of MEXT (the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) started in 2002 to promote world-class, internationally competitive colleges and universities. With competitive principles based on independent evaluations, NAIST actively supports this program in order to establish the best research and education center in the world in each academic field. In 2002, NAIST was selected as a research and education center in two categories: "Information Sciences, Electrical and Electronic Engineering" and "Life Sciences.”

Category	Program	Graduate School	Leader
Information Sciences, Electrical and Electronic Engineering	Ubiquitous Networked Media Computing	Graduate School of Information Science	Kunihiro CHIHARA
Life Sciences	Exploiting New Frontiers in Bioscience	Graduate School of Biological Sciences	Akira ISOGAI

Educational Programs of All Graduate Schools were Selected for the “Initiatives for Attractive Education in Graduate Schools”

This is a project initiated by MEXT in 2005 for nurturing young researchers with abundant creativity. Under the initiatives, educational programs of all NAIST graduate schools (Graduate School of Information Sciences, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, and Graduate School of Materials Sciences) have been selected.

The project represents an organizational commitment to fostering young researchers, enabling them to work on their research themes from a broader and unique perspective in the context of increasingly specialized fields of science and technology.

Graduate School	Program	Program Overview
Graduate School of Information Science	Core Program to Promote Talented Students for the Future in Information Science	As a program to promote engineers and researchers who can address the needs of the ICT (information and communication technology）age, the program provides a variety of cross-departmental curriculums and a scholarship system to help develop international leaders.
Graduate School of Biological Sciences	Building Educational Programs at the Frontiers of Biological Sciences	The program aims to establish a tutoring system by multiple teachers and prepare international education systems to enhance students’ abilities including scientific English.
Graduate School of Materials Science	Fostering Leading Researchers for Advanced Fusion Technology in Materials Science	The program adopts a dual course system to foster researchers who can develop new fusion technologies, while promoting international capabilities such as the improvement of scientific English and mid-term research at overseas institutions.

Both programs focus on fostering an environment that enables students to obtain cutting-edge knowledge and research skills with a global perspective.

NAIST Received Top Evaluation for the Development of University Intellectual Property Headquarters

This is a MEXT initiative started in 2003 with the purpose of established a model for strategic creation, management and utilization of intellectual property in universities and other organizations. An interim review of the plan's two-year performance (2003 and 2004) has been conducted by the Evaluation Panel for University Intellectual Property Headquarters consisting of prominent members of the industrial and academic world.

NAIST received the top evaluation ("A") by the Panel, who identified it as one of the country's top license fee earners. The Panel concluded that NAIST is an "exemplary small-scale university with a functional organization, contributing its strengths (information, biological and materials sciences) to industry-government-academia collaboration.”

Selected for the Pilot Project of Super Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration Headquarters

A pilot project of the Super Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration Headquarters began in 2005 as part of the MEXT initiative for the "Development of University Intellectual Property Headquarters.” The goal of this project is to build an integrated structure within universities based on the Intellectual Property Headquarters that utilize research resources and promotes organizational collaboration. Among applications from institutions engaged in activities under the "Development of University Intellectual Property Headquarters" scheme, NAIST was chosen as one of the six universities.

Selected for the Intellectual Cluster Formation Project (Kansai Science City Area)

The goal of this project, initiated by MEXT in 2002, is to form "Intellectual Clusters" throughout Japan to serve as development bases to help revitalize regional economies.

Kansai Science City was selected in 2004 as one of such bases. NAIST plays an important role as one of the core research institutions with Doshisha University, Osaka Electro-Communication University, and the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) to promote the "Research Project for the Creation of Human L-Cube Industry.”

No.1 in External Funding per Laboratory

NAIST is actively seeking external funding such as Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (nationally ranked 9th in new funding, 2nd in amount per researcher*), funding for joint research projects with the private sector (30th in received funds), and commissioned research projects (14th in received funds, 15th for joint/commissioned research funds combined). These funds, combined with scholarships, donations and competitive research funds, have amounted to approximately 3.1 billion yen, and in the Institute’s own estimates, NAIST is Japan's No. 1 institute in external funding per laboratory (approximately 50 million yen).*Based on 2004 MEXT data.

Excellent Track Record of Research Activities (Evaluated by the Council for Science and Technology Policy)

In the research results on scientific and technological activities at national academic institutions reported at the Council for Science and Technology Policy, which was established in the Cabinet Office to devise basic policies related to science and technology, NAIST ranked highly for many national indexes.

“The 60th Council for Science and Technology Policy” for Fiscal Year 2005

Top-ranking categories (among 87 national universities)
Research expenses (per researcher), accepted funds for joint and commissioned research (per researcher), number of published patents (per researcher), percentage of external funds (ratio of external funds in current balance), percentage of young (37 years or younger) researchers
Second-ranking categories (among 87 national universities)
Allocation of scientific research grants (per researcher), ratio of research expenses to operating expenses (percentage of research expenses in operating expenses)
Third-ranking categories (among 87 national universities)
Patent revenue (per researcher)

“The 49th Council for Science and Technology Policy” for Fiscal Year 2004

Top-ranking categories (among 87 national universities)
Research expenses (per researcher), percentage of external funds (ratio of external funds in current balance), ratio of research expenses to operating expenses (percentage of research expenses in operating expenses)
Second-ranking categories (among 87 national universities)
Allocation of scientific research grants (per researcher), patent revenue (per researcher)

Media Recognition of NAIST’s High-level Research Capability

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (February 16, 2004) reported the results of research capability analysis of engineering schools in public and private colleges and universities in Japan (including graduate schools). NAIST ranked first for research planning (amount of research funds by public subscription). It also ranked highly in other categories and second in overall research capability.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun (June 25, 2005) reported that the three research areas in the Graduate School of Information Science were ranked "A+", or in the top 5%, in a survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The survey, part of the Ministry's "Project for the Promotion of Fostering and Evaluation of Human Resource,” evaluated each university’s educational, research and social activities as well as human resource development effort to improve industrial competitiveness.
In the "University Ranking 2006" (published by Asahi Shimbun), NAIST received a high ranking in a number of categories. The Institute also ranked highly for the number of research paper citations and patents. Also, for the number of research paper citations in the “Nature” and “Science” magazines per 100 researchers based on the number of research papers published in these magazines, NAIST topped the national list.
In the “University Ranking 2007” (published by Asahi Shimbun), NAIST ranked 4th (1st among universities) for the number of draft research paper and citations, calculated with the database of ISI – Thomson Scientific.
In the Takarajima magazine’s special issue “Ranking of University Research Aiming for the Nobel Prize” (published by TAKARAJIMASHA Inc.), the Graduate School of Information Science COE Program ranked 6th in the “information, electric and electronic fields” and 21st in the “four science and cross-disciplinary fields” respectively for the “COE programs drawing university researchers’ attention.”
“The Role of Japan and its National Universities in the 21st Century” published by the Japan Association of National Universities ranked all Japanese and overseas universities and research institutions based on the number of research paper citations, and NAIST ranked 9th nationally and 187th internationally in the “molecular biology and genetics” category, as well as 48th nationally and 655th internationally in the “all fields” category.
In the feature article “Truly Strong Universities Winning in the Age of Survival” in the weekly magazine “Toyo Keizai” published by Toyo Keizai Inc., NAIST ranked 1st for the “Universities Winning More External Funds” and ranked highly on other categories.
According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun (20 March, 2004), the National Institution of Academic Degrees and University Evaluation released results of its “International Collaboration and Exchange” research on all national universities, 14 institutions and 4 public universities. NAIST earned the top mark on the 5-leval evaluation in the “results and effects of activities” category, rated as a university whose “results and effects of activities are satisfactory.”