Educational Programs
As of April 2008, the Graduate School of Engineering instituted a new Integrated Master’s-Doctoral Course Program for students who look beyond the master to doctoral degree. Applicants to the Master’s Program (2 years prior to the Doctoral Program) who have passed the entrance examination and also passed a qualifying evaluation may choose one of the programs described below.
For the classes offered in these programs, refer to the course catalogs provided after the admission.
Curriculum in the Graduate School of Engineering
The purpose of the curriculum in the Graduate School of Engineering is to nurture independent-minded researchers and technically sophisticated engineers dedicated to the search for truth. We aspire to produce cultured, unique graduates with high ethical standards who are capable of using their wide range of knowledge to creatively conduct advanced research, develop science and technology in harmony with the natural environment with an emphasis on basic research, and contribute to the search for truth, a sustainable development of the global society and the continual creation of culture.
In order to accomplish the above, the Master’s Program (2 years) provides our students a wide range of knowledge and an international outlook by organically combining a rich variety of study subjects, experiments, exercises, seminars and short-term internships, and educates them to be technically sophisticated engineers and researchers with the abilities to discover and resolve problems independently.
The Doctoral Program (3 years) focuses on research-oriented education and assembles research teams in new research fields to nurture researchers who are capable of leading new research. We provide a rich variety of study subjects, experiments, lectures and seminars in order to instill in students the specialized and fundamental expertise needed to conduct research. As appropriate to the student’s chosen field, we also provide ORT (On the Research Training) at our cutting-edge facilities in the Katsura Int'tech Center on the grounds of Graduate School of Engineering, at sponsoring companies, at international organizations and elsewhere, as well as long-term internships, in order to fuse a wide range of knowledge with an international perspective.
Students that have entered as master candidates and intend to continue on to receive their doctor degrees and want to become researchers at a university, research institute, or industry are invited to participate in the Integrated Master’s-Doctoral Course Program (3–5 years). The Department continues to take a long-term view in designing its unique curriculum, combining classes, research, ORT and long-term internships. It will carefully formulate and plan its programs for classes and research.
Educational Programs and Degree Requirements
Educational Programs
The Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University has two courses: the Master’s Program (the first portion of the graduate school program) and the Doctoral Program (second portion of the graduate school program). This School provides a master-only program (“Master’s Course Program”) as well as a program linking the master with the doctoral courses (the “Integrated Master’s-Doctoral Course Program” or “Integrated Program”). The Integrated Program is intended for students aspiring to earn a doctor degree and work as researchers in their fields.
The Master’s Course Program offers lectures of the fundamentals in various specific fields. Students learn how to conduct research by conducting their own research for their theses. This is an educational program for students who hope to work as researchers or highly skilled engineers in corporations and research institutes.
The Integrated Program consists of the Interdisciplinary Engineering Course, courses that cross various departments that are taught at the newly established Advanced Engineering Education Center, as well as the Advanced Engineering Course taught in existing departments. Each program offers 5-, 4-, and 3-year courses. Applicants accepted into the Doctoral Program are enrolled in the 3-year Integrated Program.
Students in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Course must select a main academic advisor and 2 other assisting advisors. The student is registered under the department of the main academic advisor. These advisors will help the student determine a curriculum appropriate to his/her goal and provide detailed instructions including career guidance. The student’s progress will be regularly monitored, at intervals set by each department, as he/she proceeds through the academic curriculum and research.
For being accepted in the Doctoral Program, students must pass the corresponding entrance examination of the Doctoral Program regardless of the program they select in the Master’s Program.
The figure below shows a typical series of classes selected by a student after entering the Master’s Program. For further information, refer to “Educational Program (Interdisciplinary Engineering Course)” described below and “Details of Entrance Examinations of Each Division/Department” in each Guidelines.
Degree Requirements
A master degree will be awarded to the students who have been enrolled in the Master’s Program in the Department for at least 2 years, have received research guidance, have completed at least 30 credits designated by their major field, successfully defended their master theses, and passed the final examination.
A doctor degree will be awarded to students who have been enrolled in Doctoral Program in the Department for at least 3 years, have received research guidance, have completed at least 10 credits designated by their major fields, have successfully defended their doctor theses, and have passed the final examination.
A master degree will be awarded to students who have been registered in the Integrated Program for 2 years and successfully defended their master theses. A doctor degree will be awarded to students who have completed the Integrated Program and successfully defended their doctor theses.
Students recognized as accomplishing very fast progress in both Master’s and Doctoral Programs and in their research, and having successfully defended their theses, may be allowed to earn their master and doctor degrees earlier than the designated years.
Educational Program (Interdisciplinary Engineering Course)
Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Applied Mechanics
For the high-level researchers and engineers in the academic and industrial area such as the mechanical engineering field and the chemical engineering field, the following capabilities are indispensable. They can understand the complicated phenomena of heat and mass transfer as well as momentum transfer. Also, they can control and manage the dynamic complicated phenomena in functional materials, mechanical structures, mechanical systems, chemical processes and energy conversion processes under strategic considerations of the dynamic incorporation between products and humans. The above capabilities are required not only for engineers of the mechanical engineering but also for other engineering fields (the aeronautical engineering, the nuclear engineering, the material engineering, the environmental engineering, the civil engineering, etc.) which support the society with basic and high technologies. The capabilities are cultivated through the education of the fundamental subjects of the fluid mechanics, the thermodynamics, the mechanics of materials, and the control engineering. The world-class teachers give the systematic lectures about the four fundamental subjects. Moreover, high-level educations are given through the state of the art researches performed in the Advanced Engineering Research Center. The students in the Integrated Course from the Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering, can learn lateral and general knowledge.
Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Materials Engineering and Chemistry
Engineering and Chemistry are the forefront fields bearing science and technology of the 21st century and are indispensable for sustainable development of human society. The Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Materials Engineering and Chemistry serves for the educations of structures, properties, functions and engineering processes for various kinds of materials such as organic and inorganic compounds, polymers, metals and bio-related materials. This program provides instructions and detailed educations by a plurality of world leading teachers, along the tailor-made curriculums suited to desires and scholastic ability backgrounds of individual students, and also provides interdisciplinary education environments that enable to acquire extensive knowledge and broad perspectives, regardless of departments and fields of the advising teachers.
Furthermore, this program trains students who have a high level of problem presentation and problem-solving abilities through researches of precise designing and engineering of novel advanced functional materials, researches of mechanical, thermal, electronic, optical, chemical and biological properties, researches of material structures and their formations in the ranges of sub-nanometer to meter and researches of industrial technologies ensuring environmental conservation and harmony.
This program serves for multifaceted curriculums that include the educations, called On the Research Training (ORT), through achievements of forefront researches in Kyoto University, collaboration companies and international research institutions, as well as internship seminars, in addition to educations through attractive lectures such as core courses and related exercises.
Through the fortified curriculums described above, this program trains the students so as to become researchers and engineers who have high ethical values, original problem presentation and problem-solving abilities based on extensive basic scholastic achievements and broad perspectives for materials, high wills to make new discoveries and inventions as well as internationality, and capabilities of contributing to society as leaders.
<Top Global Course>
On a basis of the Japan Gateway: Kyoto University Top Global Program (JGP), Top Global Course is established as a new course in the Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Materials Engineering and Chemistry. This course will contribute to foster internationally minded researchers and engineers capable of thinking from diverse perspectives, establishing logical solutions, and communicating effectively with others around the world. This course focuses on various fields related to chemistry and chemical engineering such as energy, environment and resources, which are crucial to realize sustainable society. To this end, the education in the latter half of this course (Doctoral Program) will generally be managed in English, including the lectures provided by professors from our international partner universities.
Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Engineering for Life Science and Medicine
There are various interdisciplinary academic fields in the link between engineering and medicine. The purpose of this interdisciplinary engineering course is to learn the engineering discipline and technology for life science and medicine, as well as to nurture the leaders of researchers and engineers who have the ability for the innovative research and development of life science and medicine.
This program provides 4 courses; Bio-Nano, Advanced Medical Physics, Chemical Biology, and Biomaterials. A wide range of knowledge and an international outlook is provided by organically combining a rich variety of study subjects, experiments, exercises, and ORT (On the Research Training) or internships at domestic or international research institutions and companies. The characteristic is to provide a wide range of educational programs by academically linking among engineering, physics, chemistry, medicine, science, and biology.
1) Bio-Nano Course
Bio-Nano Course provides integration of education and cutting-edge research by translating biological sciences into biomedical engineering with advanced micro- and nanotechnologies such as MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) and micro TAS (Total Analysis System) with cellular and molecular engineering to solve important challenges in rapidly-advancing fields of nanomedicine, regenerative medicine, stem cell engineering, and tissue engineering.
2) Advanced Medical Physics Course
The course aims to prepare students for a career as interdisciplinary medical physicists by providing them with professional knowledge covering radiology, nuclear medicine, radiobiology and clinical training as well as fundamental physics and engineering relevant to radiation physics, radiation detection and accelerator-beam technology.
3) Chemical Biology Course
Based on Chemistry and molecular biology, advanced scientific and technical researches and educations are performed for chemical biology and nano-bioscience technology, which are fused area of chemistry/biology molecular engineering/medicine.
4) Biomaterials Course
The purpose of field is to educate to be students with the abilities to interdisciplinary research and develop biologically active materials in terms of polymer chemistry, material chemistry, medicine, and biology.
The materials are applied to the design and synthesis of biomaterials (medical materials or devices, materials to induce tissue regeneration, and drug delivery system (DDS) etc.) which are indispensable for therapy, prevention, and prophylactics and regenerative medicine, the materials characterization, as well as their biochemical and biological evaluation.
Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Interdisciplinary Photonics and Electronics Science
In the 21st century, the rapidly increasing burdens of information processing and energy consumption are raising concerns about conventional hardware reaching performance limits and natural resources becoming depleted. In order to solve these problems as well as actively promote research into photonics and electronics science, it is critical to develop an interdisciplinary research area of science and engineering encompassing electrical energy system engineering, electronics, quantum material engineering, material science, chemical engineering, optoelectronics, integrated system engineering, and quantum physics engineering. Furthermore, it is important to foster young researchers and professional engineers who can exercise leadership in this broad-based area.
This education program aims at nurturing innovative researchers who challenge the limitations of current technologies and who can create new concepts and functionalities through valuable research experience and the acquisition of professional knowledge and skills. World-class education and research is carried out in a variety of interdisciplinary fields: developing optical solid-state devices with new functionality and high efficiency by super-fine control of photons; achieving environment-resistant devices and super-integrated systems by super-fine control of electrons; developing devices with new functionality and new processing methods using photons, ions, spins,and spins; refining control methods and fundamental theories of high-energy density systems; and developing nano-scale measurement techniques based on newly found physical phenomena.
The education program seeks to foster young researchers and engineers of talent in new fields, people who possess a broad vision, creativity, an international spirit, and the ability to work independently. Toward this end, it provides basic and advanced lectures along with a tailor-made curriculum and internship opportunities arranged for each student. The program is administered in cooperation with the Photonics and Electronics Science and Engineering Center.
Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Human Security Engineering
Urban areas with populations greater than 10 million (Megacities) are expected to be increasing at a rapid rate. Such urban population expansion and unmatched urban managements to these changes cause insufficient and unreliable urban services, environmental deterioration, and increase of hazard risks, which threat human security significantly.
Fulfilling basic human needs and assuring the self-sustainable recovery from environmental pollution and disasters in megacities have been the major challenges for several decades, and the situation still needs more improvement. One main reason for this unsuccessful situation was the unsystematic management of the technologies and systems for dealing with those risks rather than the rapid growth of cities. Besides past attempts to solve human security issues overlooked the importance of the development of human resources and communities for systematically applying those technologies and systems to their specific problems.
We define "Human Security Engineering" as a system of technologies (techniques) for designing and managing cities that enable inhabitants to live under better public health conditions, and also live free from potential threats of large-scale disasters and environmental destruction. For establishing this discipline, four existing fields, i.e. city governance, city infrastructure management, health risk management, and disaster risk management, are integrated into one discipline. Specifically, problem-solving education and research will be conducted on Megacities with emphasis on three key points: (1) active incorporation of strong local orientation and suitable local characteristics; (2) co-evolution of engineering technologies, urban administrative management, and system creation; and (3) inclusion of multilayered governance with various actors having different interests and values.
This educational program provides education in the core field of human security engineering and the four basic interdisciplinary fields, so that students can properly integrate and apply those knowledge, and create new methodologies to ensure the urban human security, as researchers and high level practitioners. Specifically, we put strong emphasis on the following aspects:
1.Creativity (in addition to having broad knowledge, the ability go beyond the boundaries of disciplines and subjects is important)
2.International experience (ability of research debate and presentation in English, education and research activity in foreign countries, and building international human network)
3.Independence (ability in research design and management, leadership, and problem-solving ability in practical situations)
※ Two programs below are for the 5-year Course of Interdisciplinary Engineering Course related to the Program for Leading Graduate Schools. In principle, only students who have selected to study in the programs at the time of Master’s Program are eligible for these programs (cf. Please refer to the footnote at the end of the next section)
Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Design Science
The global society in the 21st century is seeking solutions for complex problems regarding environmental destruction caused by global warming, loss of amenity rights caused by an artifactitious jungle, and collapse of region-specific cultures. To achieve this goal and to contribute to the sustainable development of the society and the preservation and creation of the cultures, we have to develop a novel design methodology for solving the pressing complex problems in the global society. This is not restricted to the design of the individual products but should also deal with the design of relations among artifacts as well as their relations with the human and the environment. With this methodology, we educate experts in engineering fields (mainly of mechanical engineering, and architecture and architectural engineering) to develop their problem finding / solving skills in collaboration with experts in informatics, management, and psychology. We nurture experts who are capable of changing our systems and architectures by collaborating with others beyond the boundaries of expertise with a broad view and profound creativity. Herein, design is not restricted to the activities on a single product/service design, but should be regarded as a more multidimensional activity dealing with an organization, a community and a society. Students are required to participate in leading research projects to address big social challenges through international collaboration and industry-academia- government collaboration, and thus are expected to provide strong leadership for the global effort to address the various design issues that we human being faces.
※ The Program for Leading Graduate School accepts transfer admission to the program from 3rd year, i.e., 1st year of doctoral course, from 2015. In this case, students who have not selected to study in the Laboratory at the time of Master’s Program are eligible for this laboratory. For the details, please refer to “transfer admission procedure requirements” of the Program for Leading Graduate School.
Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Integrated Medical Engineering
Japan is one of the first industrialized countries that face the problem of unprecedented aging society. To support the individual life and guide for a good lifestyle to prevent diseases and accidents, it is necessary that we develop a completely new integrated medico-engineering system, that is integrated of medical care, welfare and home care with minimized burden on the human body. In this program, non-medical graduate students will be educated medical knowledge, comparably with students graduated from medical schools. In addition, through the practices of medical support field and medical ethics, students are raising a sense to develop equipments and systems, which are “kind to the aging society” with low burden for the users. Moreover, students master specialized knowledge not only in the medico-engineering field but also health-economics,-policy areas. Students also develop the ability to predict the industrialization and marketing of equipments and systems, sensibility of international standardization, as well as excellent communication capacity in English, producing medical scientists/engineers who can play an active part in international organizations.
Table: Educational Program and Division/Department
Educational Program |
Division/Department |
||
Integrated Master’s-Doctoral Course Program |
Interdisciplinary Engineering Course |
Advanced Engineering Education Center |
|
a Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Applied Mechanics |
Civil and Earth Resources Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Science, Micro Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nuclear Engineering, Chemical Engineering |
||
b Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Materials Engineering and Chemistry |
Mechanical Engineering and Science, Micro Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Materials Science and Engineering, Material Chemistry, Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Molecular Engineering, Polymer Chemistry, Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Chemical Engineering |
||
c Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Engineering for Life Science and Medicine |
Mechanical Engineering and Science, Micro Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Molecular Engineering, Polymer Chemistry, Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Chemical Engineering |
||
d Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Interdisciplinary Photonics and Electronics Science |
Mechanical Engineering and Science, Micro Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
||
e Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Human Security Engineering |
Civil and Earth Resources Engineering/Urban Management, Environmental Engineering |
||
f Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Design Science |
Architecture and Architectural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Science, Micro Engineering, Aeronautics and Astronautics |
||
g Postgraduate Integrated Course Program of Integrated Medical Engineering |
Mechanical Engineering and Science, Micro Engineering , Nuclear Engineering, Material Chemistry, Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry, Molecular Engineering, Polymer Chemistry, Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Chemical Engineering |
||
Advanced Engineering Course |
Department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering |
Civil and Earth Resources Engineering/Urban Management |
|
Department of Urban Management |
|||
Department of Environmental Engineering |
Environmental Engineering |
||
Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering |
Architecture and Architectural Engineering ※being offered 3-year Course only |
||
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science |
Mechanical Engineering
|
||
Department of Micro Engineering |
|||
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
|||
Department of Nuclear Engineering |
Nuclear Engineering |
||
Department of Materials Science and Engineering |
Materials Science and Engineering |
||
Department of Electrical Engineering |
Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
||
Department of Electronic Science and Engineering |
|||
Department of Material Chemistry |
Material Chemistry |
||
Department of Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry |
Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry |
||
Department of Molecular Engineering |
Molecular Engineering |
||
Department of Polymer Chemistry |
Polymer Chemistry |
||
Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry |
Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry |
||
Department of Chemical Engineering |
Chemical Engineering |
||
Master’s Course Program |
Department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering |
Civil and Earth Resources Engineering/ Urban Management |
|
Department of Urban Management |
|||
Department of Environmental Engineering |
Environmental Engineering |
||
Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering |
Architecture and Architectural Engineering |
||
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science |
Mechanical Engineering |
||
Department of Micro Engineering |
|||
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
|||
Department of Nuclear Engineering |
Nuclear Engineering |
||
Department of Materials Science and Engineering |
Materials Science and Engineering |
||
Department of Electrical Engineering |
Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
||
Department of Electronic Science and Engineering |
|||
Department of Material Chemistry |
Material Chemistry |
||
Department of Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry |
Energy and Hydrocarbon Chemistry |
||
Department of Molecular Engineering |
Molecular Engineering |
||
Department of Polymer Chemistry |
Polymer Chemistry |
||
Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry |
Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry |
||
Department of Chemical Engineering |
Chemical Engineering |
※ Each research laboratory at each department does not necessarily provide all educational programs listed on the table above. For detailed information, please refer to “Details of Entrance Examinations of Each Division/Department” in Guideline for Applicants to check whether your preferred educational program is available at each laboratory.