Tohoku University to Hire 500 World-class Researchers, Hoping to Capitalize on U.S. Brain Drain Set Off by Trump

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:18 JST, June 6, 2025

Tohoku University will hire about 500 world-class researchers by fiscal 2029, it was learned on Thursday.

Tohoku University is the only university recognized by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry as a University for International Research Excellence, or a university that aims to achieve the world’s highest level of research abilities. The university will use ¥30 billion in government subsidies to hire the researchers.

Over the next 25 years, the university hopes to increase its ratio of foreign researchers from 12% to 30%. This fiscal year, it plans to use ¥2.2 billion of the ¥15.4 billion in grants it has received as a university of excellence to hire about 100 people. Currently, it is negotiating with 11 overseas researchers whose annual salaries exceed ¥20 million.

The Trump administration’s cuts to science and technology budgets have presented a chance to snag researchers who are struggling to continue their research in the United States. And while there is a large gap in salaries between Japan and the United States, the university will pay according to performance and will not set salary caps.

“We hope to attract excellent researchers from all over the world to enhance our research capabilities,” said a university source.