Intl Research Excellence Designation for Univs: Take the Lead in Enhancing Japan’s Research Capabilities

Editorial

15:10 JST, December 25, 2025

Enhancing the research capabilities of universities contributes to improving Japan’s competitiveness and economic strength. Top-tier universities must take the lead in reform efforts to shore up research capabilities.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has decided on a policy to designate the Institute of Science Tokyo as a “University for International Research Excellence,” a designation given to universities that aim to become one of the world’s top research universities. Kyoto University is expected to be recognized conditionally as such a university. Including Tohoku University, which was selected last year, there will likely be three universities in Japan with the status.

The Institute of Science Tokyo was established in 2024 through the merger of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Aiming to receive the designation of University for International Research Excellence, the university accomplished the challenging task of merging two traditional universities within a short period of time.

This time, the Institute of Science Tokyo presented an initiative to achieve its threefold vision of “a better life, a better society and a better planet” and stated it would promote collaboration between engineering and the medical sciences by integrating the two fields. Its plan to establish a framework to gather the personnel needed to achieve these goals was also highly regarded by the ministry.

Meanwhile, Kyoto University said it will abolish its closed “small academic chair” system, in which professors held the highest authority, and switch to a cross-disciplinary department system that is open to young researchers. A condition for its certification is that it must further “refine” its reform plan within one year.

Although both universities were selected as candidates to receive the designation, they have only been recognized for their motivation and plans for reform at this stage. The executives and faculties of each university need to unite in their efforts to realize their goals.

It is hoped that they will implement bold reforms and achieve outstanding research results so they can become models for university reform in Japan.

The University of Tokyo also applied to receive the University for International Research Excellence designation, but it was placed on hold this time to allow for “further review.” There has been a spate of incidents, including one in which an associate professor at its medical school was arrested and indicted on suspicion of accepting bribes, raising questions about its governance.

As the University of Tokyo is a larger organization compared to other national universities, it is difficult for the executives’ intentions to fully permeate the entire university. Rather than leaving reforms to individual departments, the executives should show strong leadership.

Additionally, five universities — the University of Osaka, Waseda University, Kyushu University, the University of Tsukuba and Nagoya University — were not selected in the screening this time. To enhance Japan’s research capabilities, it is hoped that one or two more universities will be added to the list.

Renowned U.S. universities establish endowment funds through donations from wealthy alumni and others, using the substantial investment profits as flexible financial resources for research and education.

Japan, without such a system, has made significant progress in that it created a university endowment fund using public money and established a system to distribute the investment profits. However, if the government is truly serious about aiming to “revive science,” it would be fundamentally reasonable to work to greatly expand budgets for universities.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 25, 2025)