Hiroshima University

Overview

Hiroshima University

Hiroshima University is a public research university located in Higashi-Hiroshima and Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. It was established in 1929 as Hiroshima University of Literature and Science by merging several national institutions to form the university. It traces back its origins to Hakushima School which was founded in 1874. After the Second World War, it was reopened, with new component institutions added. It is among the top Japanese universities in the fields of education and technical training, with strong relationships with the Japanese economy.

Hiroshima University Key Statistics

Comprising eight constituent institutions, Hiroshima University is composed of 12 schools, 11 graduate schools, and several institutes. Its major academic units include the School of Applied Biological Science, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of International Development and Cooperation, Graduate School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, and the Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter.

Hiroshima University's student population is approximately 11,322 undergraduates, 3,358 postgraduates, and 1,756 doctoral students. It has around 3,222 academic staff and three campuses, namely, the Kasumi Campus, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, and Higashi-Sendai Campus.

The other Hiroshima University key statistics include hosting 1,899 international scholars and students from across 72 different countries. It also operates the Miyajima Natural Botanical Garden.

Hiroshima University Research

The university is recognized for conducting state-of-the-art research programs. It has extensive internal and external funding sources, including the HIRAKU-Global (Center for World-Class Researcher Development), N-BARD (Natural Science for Basic Research and Development), the Hiroshima University Fund (Nozomi H Foundation), the Cross-Ministerial Research and Development Management System, and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development.

Its top fields of research are medicine, biology, and physics. Hiroshima University research outputs have been published in prestigious journals, including The Astrophysical Journal, Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, and JAMA. Its researchers have attended major scholarly conferences such as the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Web Science, and the International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

The most cited Hiroshima University research publication is Kitada et al.’s (1998) “Mutations in the parkin gene cause autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism.” This was featured in Nature and has been cited 7,529 times.

The university’s second most cited publication is Aamodt et al.’s (2008) ”The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC,” which was featured in the Journal of Instrumentation and has received 4,599 citations.

Moreover, the university’s third most cited publication is Adcox et al.’s (2005) “Formation of dense partonic matter in relativistic nucleus–nucleus collisions at RHIC: Experimental evaluation by the PHENIX Collaboration,” which appeared in Nuclear Physics and has received 4,261 citations so far.

The university has several research centers and institutes. These include the Research Institute for Higher Education, Institute for Peace Science, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Research Institute for Nanodevice and Bio Systems, Information Media Center, Natural Science Center for Basic Research and Development, and the Morito Institute of Global Higher Education.

It has been recognized for its innovative research programs. Some of these include “Unveiling the chemical evolution of life's building blocks in space,” and the “Diagnosis of psychiatric disorders using brain functional images and AI.”