ABOUT
University’s Vision and Proposal
Since its onset, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted our lives and its tremendous economic and social costs have yet to be fully grasped. Kyushu University must contribute to reforming and restructuring social and economic systems. It is a significant role to play in becoming a world-class platform for new value of research and creating innovation by stimulating international talent circulation.
As a Designated National University Corporation, Kyushu University strives to be “a university that drives social change with integrative knowledge” fusing the entire spectrum of knowledge from the Natural Sciences to the Humanities and Social Sciences. Kyushu University serves as a platform for knowledge that drives world- class research and education from Fukuoka, Kyushu, operating in close connection in Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world. Kyushu University will contribute to the creation of a society that achieves sustainable social development and manages diverse realizations toward well-being.
Initiative to realize the Vision
Forming a world-class research and education base
We will advance our research and educational capabilities, identify new research fields where we have potential to lead the world, and become a world-class research and education hub capable of producing integrative knowledge to bring about change in socio-economic systems.
We will foster the next generation to realize Society 5.0 with the ability to integrate knowledge from multiple fields, design a new society, and create new value through comprehensive knowledge. Education and research are inseparable, especially in the doctoral course, we develop education that is conscious of the formation of a wide range of career paths in anticipation of not only top-tier researchers but also highly specialized professionals.
Education to create integrative knowledge
- Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Team-Based Learning (TBL)
- Incorporating Design Thinking into STEM
- Education to cultivate entrepreneurship
Key skills for DX
- Improving data literacy in all departments
- Fostering mathematics and data science
Education in a global perspective
- Fulfilment of International Courses and Programs
- COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) education expansion
- Enhancement and Expansion of Double and Joint Degrees
Enhancing education and support for Ph.D. programs
- Implementation of interdisciplinary degree programs
- Financial and career-path development support
By strategically allocating on-campus resources (people, equipment, money, space, time), we support basic academic research to social development research, free and vigorous research by each researcher, and joint research by researchers. We will strive to expand our strengths and distinctive research fields, which will receive strategically focused investment, and attract and train excellent researchers who will be the source of innovation.
Creation of integrative knowledge, reinforcement of cutting-edge research, discovery of new fields
- Coordinated university research strategy
- To strengthen administrative and control functions
- To find advanced research and theory generated through integrative knowledge
Recruitment and training prominent researchers
- Providing research facilities, environment and funds for young researchers engaged in original research to enable them to concentrate on their work fully (Inamori Frontier Program)
- Providing opportunities for female and young researchers to challenge world-class research and education (SENTAN-Q)
- Support for life events such as pregnancy, childbirth, childcare
Improving research environment
- Maintaining three months per year for research (FQR：Free Quarter for Research)
- Research and education support from retired faculty
- Research equipment and facilities sharing
To enhance our function as a hub for international talent circulation which a university is highly rated due to their validate research results and to attract excellent students and researchers, we will establish international collaborative relationship with our strategic partners and build an environment to help promote such relationship.
Enhancing global education
- International programs enhancement
- COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) education expansion
- Double and joint degrees enhancement
- Learner-centered Japanese language education with DX
Research and leadership
- Fund matching for international collaboration
- Training global leaders with Global Young Academy
- Revitalization of international joint research through cross-appointments
Building a global environment
- Bilingual education system
- Overseas alumni associations and networks
Strengthening international partnerships
- Expansion of strategical key partner universities
- Participation in consortium of world-leading universities
- Global Advisory Board
The Open Innovation Platform has been established as an interface for industry-academia-government collaboration activities. Industry, academia, government and the private sector will come together to form a forum for free discussion, free from organizational and institutional constraints, and promote social implementation through solving social problems and commercializing research results through medium and long-term vision, backcasting, project implementation, technology transfer of research results and support for start-ups. The income earned will be used to create a virtuous cycle of research result creation and social implementation, and initiatives will be taken to develop the results of research and education in society in various forms.
Enhancement of open innovation functions
- Open Innovation Platform (OIP)
- Collaboration with various consortiums in the region (Kyushu University Regional Collaboration Platform)
- External corporation functioning of industry-academia collaboration
Promoting social implementation
- Institutional collaboration agreements
- Support for university startups (GAP Fund/ STEP Fund, GAP Fund NEXT)
Development of Citizen Science
- Science communication activities
- Social experimental research and education activities
- Recurrent education center
In order to realize our vision, we will strengthen the university governance, solving social issues and advance society-changing actions through offering DX, and to strongly promote education, research and international collaborations.
Reform into emphasizing management from operation
- Drastic management reform through diversity
- Reformation under President’s leadership
- Rational policy making based on evidence
- Resource allocation based on institutional goal evaluation
- Stakeholder engagement through issue sharing
To realize the vision and to be able to distribute our limited resources to these efforts according to their strategic importance, we seek to diversify our income streams through more competitive funding so as to strengthen our financial base.
Acquirement of external funds by enhancing research capabilities and securing fiscal resources by the President
- Acquirement of competitive funding, based on strategies
- Large-scale institutional agreements for joint and contract research
- An increase of intellectual property revenue by strengthening industry-academia collaboration
- Kyushu U alumni network and CEO Club
- Private funds for supporting university startups
Driving Social Change with Integrative Knowledge
In order to solve complex social issues, we will use our strengths and resources to take the lead in social issues, set three entry points, and work to solve them. In addition, we will develop data-driven education, research, and medical care that "continuously create new value that has never existed before" toward the realization of the new future society envisioned in Society 5.0.
We have set the following three entry points to take the lead in addressing social issues, making the most of our university's strengths and resources as well as our free and open research in a wide range of fields. Starting with Fukuoka and Kyushu, we will expand our efforts to solve these three problems to Japan, Asia, and other regions of the world that have similar problems.
Three entry points
Decarbonization
In order to realize a decarbonized society by 2050, we will bring together elemental research groups and implement initiatives that anticipate the social implementation of decarbonization, while also becoming a green innovation hub in collaboration with the Fukuoka and Kyushu regions to create innovative technologies, policy proposals such as building a model for a decarbonized society, and contributing to the development of highly skilled human resources.
To achieve carbon neutrality, a goal of the Japanese government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, it is necessary to extend and optimize conventional research and technology, but also to decarbonize society as a whole. It is necessary to create innovative technologies that can be used in the future, and to present the ideal future society and social design. At our university, we will make use of our world-class green energy-related research achievements to propose innovative technologies and a vision of society that will realize discontinuous innovation toward decarbonization with the goal of 2030.
Medicine and Health
Under our DX initiative, we will promote social implementation and commercialization of research achievements with a focus on the three fields of disease prediction and early detection; preservation of healthy physical function and telemedicine; and precision medicine and innovative treatment.
We must devise and implement strategies for not only coping with low birthrates, maintaining good health into old age, improving productivity of the workforce, but preparing for future infectious diseases to realize a society in which for citizens can enjoy physical and mental wellbeing. Such strategies must not be limited to social implementation of research output in the fields of medicine and health but also lead how social change should be into the future by DX. By the year 2030, we aim to solve the social and ethical problems of future medicine, make proposal to society regarding economic rationality and sustainability, and accelerate social implementation.
Environment and Food
To tackle environmental problems and food safety issues, we will lead research on oceanic and atmospheric environments, which draws on ocean dynamics and atmospheric science, and agriculture and food research in areas including breeding technologies and the inventive use of non-edible resources, the outcome of which will have practical relevance and could be implemented both in Japan and overseas.
To solve environmental issues such as climate change, ocean pollution and food safety it is necessary to take comprehensive approaches considering relevant matters of two. By the year 2030, we will contribute solving social issues which it is in multi-layered with environmental and food by supporting environmental policies with a model of predicting future of the environment, new developments of species and breeding using genome editing technology and establish eco-system of sustainable food and agriculture.
As a university which responsible for human resource development who are professional and creative in digital society will take the initiative in developing “Fundamental Reform Policy for Realizing Digital Society” of the government. For the realization of Society 5.0; we will lead in the field of DX by developing data-driven education, research and medicine that will “continuously create new value”, sharing and utilizing the output of these efforts with the local region to achieve social change.
Strengthening the foundation for the realization of Society 5.0
To research of “Ideal Society” based on new value creation from fusing cyber and physical space by DX, Humanities and Social Scientist collaborating with Informatics Researcher will output for realization of new model of society.
Developing data management and governance
To pursue data-driven education, research and medicine, we target the development of data management such as data storage, modification and visualization of data structure, and governance that accumulate and maintenance of data.
Implementing data-driven education, research and medicine
Implementing data-driven education, research and medicine
Education
We will further develop Kyushu University’s DX for Education Advancement Initiative and adopt successes from the initiative university wide. “Information Science” will be made a required course for all undergraduate students. We will provide systematic education in data science such as through courses like “Special Lectures on Data Science Practices” which will enhance students’ data literacy.
Research
We will equip young researchers with the high-level skills and ability necessary for launching new scientific approaches that integrate the fields of measurement science, data science, computational science, and mathematics. We will then further strengthen our data-driven research infrastructure. Also, we will retain, make available to public, and encourage the utilization of research data such as through approaches like green open access led by the Kyushu University Institutional Repository.
Medicine
In anticipation of the radical transformation in health and medical systems with DX, will lead sophistication of earlier identification of risks, prophylaxis and to enhanced medical and health services by utilizing medical record as well as the data that individually recorded on the daily bases.