Kyoto University

Overview

A highly distinguished educational institution in Japan, the Kyoto University consistently ranks among the top 30 universities in the world. The home of 19 Nobel Prize laureates, including Shinichiro Tomonoga for his fundamental contributions to quantum thermodynamics in 1965, the university is also famous for being among the most selective universities in Japan and the world. Prospective students can choose from the university's wide range of non-degree, undergraduate degree, and graduate degree programs.

While Kyoto University—also known as Kyodai—was duly incorporated as a national university corporation in 2004, it's history goes way back to the time of Imperial Japan. Its precursors were the Chemistry School, founded in 1869, and the Third Higher School, founded in 1886. The latter subsequently provided the buildings for the Kyoto Imperial University, which was established in 1897. It started with the College of Science and Technology, adding the College of Medicine and the College of Law in 1899, the College of Letters in 1906, and the College of Liberal Arts in 1949.

In a country frequently facing the most violent and most number of earthquakes in the world, the university plays a prominent role in addressing this challenge through its Disaster Prevention Research Institute and its Department of Geophysics, both of which represent the university on the national Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction.

Kyoto University owns and runs two campuses in Kyoto—in Katsura and Yoshida—and one in Uji (Gokashō). The main campus is Yoshida Campus. A new campus, the Katsura Campus, is scheduled to be the new home of the Graduate School of Engineering.

Kyoto University's degree programs typically require four years for a bachelor's degree course. The doctoral program requires five years—two years for the master's and three years for the doctoral proper. The main language of instruction is Japanese, but English instruction is also available for programs like informatics, economics, global environment studies, engineering , economics, energy science, management, and agriculture.

Kyoto University also offers what it calls Kyoto International Undergraduate Program (Kyoto iUP), which involves 4.5-year bachelor degrees, the additional six months is dedicated to obtaining Japanese language proficiency and getting familiar with Japanese culture and traditions.

Around 22,000 Kyoto University students can pick their courses from a number of the university's faculties. Among these are the Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Letters, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the Faculty of Medicine.

Kyoto University also provides graduate schools for these programs, along with its Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Management and the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, among others.

Students, faculty staff, and researchers may enjoy the university's renowned research facilities, namely: Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kosobe Conservatory, Primate Research Institute, and the Research Institute for Mathematical Studies.