Kyoto University

History

The forerunner of the university was the Chemistry School (舎密局 Seimi Kyoku: 舎密 is a transcription of a Dutch word chemie) founded in Osaka in 1869, which, despite its name, taught physics as well. Later, the Third Higher School (第三高等学校 Dai San Kōtō Gakkō) was established in place of Seimi Kyoku in 1886, it then transferred to the university's present main campus in the same year.

Kyoto Imperial University (京都帝国大学 Kyōto Teikoku Daigaku) as a part of the Imperial University system was established in 1897, using the Third Higher School's buildings. The Higher School moved to a patch of land just across the street, where the Yoshida South Campus stands today. In the same year of the university's establishment, College of Science and Technology was founded. College of Law and College of Medicine were founded in 1899, College of Letters in 1906, expanding the university's activities to areas outside natural science.

After the World War II, the current Kyoto University was established by merging the imperial university and the Third Higher School, which assumed the duty of teaching liberal arts as the Faculty of Liberal Arts (教養部 Kyōyōbu). The faculty was dissolved with the foundation of the Faculty of Integrated Human Studies (総合人間学部 Sōgō Ningen Gakubu) in 1992.

Kyoto University has since 2004 been incorporated as a national university corporation under a new law which applies to all national universities.

Despite the incorporation which has led to increased financial independence and autonomy, Kyoto University is still partly controlled by the Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbukagakusho, or Monkasho).

The current president is Kazuo Oike.

Campuses

The university has three campuses in Yoshida, Kyoto; in Gokashō, Uji; and in Katsura, Kyoto. Yoshida Campus is the main campus, with some laboratories located in Uji. The Graduate School of Engineering is currently under process of moving to the newly-built Katsura Campus.

Faculties and graduate schools

• Integrated Human Studies
• Letters
• Education
• Law
• Economics
• Science
• Medicine
  • University Hospital
• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Engineering
• Agriculture
  • Experimental Farm
  • University Forests
  • Human and Environmental Studies
• Energy Science
• Asian and African Area Studies
• Informatics
• Biostudies
• Global Environmental Studies

Research institutes, centers, and facilities

Institute for Chemical Research

• Institute for Research in Humanities
• Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences
• Institute of Advanced Energy
• Wood Research Institute
  • Disaster Prevention Research Institute
• Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics
• Institute for Virus Research
• Institute of Economic Research
• Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences
• Research Reactor Institute
• Primate Research Institute
• Center for Southeast Asian Studies
• Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies
• Radiation Biology Center
• Radio Science Center for Space & Atmosphere
• Center for Ecological Research
• Radioisotope Research Center
• Environment Preservation Center
• Center for Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Center for Student Exchange
• Research Center for Higher Education
• University Museum
  • International Innovation Center
• Research Center for Low Temperature and Materials Sciences
• Center for student Health
• Research Center for Sports Science
• Counseling Center
• University Archives
• Center for Archaeological Operations
• Center for African Area Studies
• KU-VBL (Venture Business Laboratory)
• Health and Medical Services

Notable alumni

• Hideki Yukawa
• Shinichiro Tomonaga
• Kenichi Fukui
• Lee Teng-hui
• Michio Morishima
• Susumu Tonegawa
• Ryoji Noyori
• Heisuke Hironaka
• Nagisa Oshima

See also

• Kikuchi Dairoku

External links

• Kyoto University