Kyushu University (九州大学, Kyūshū Daigaku), abbreviated to Kyudai (九大, Kyūdai), is a public research university located in Fukuoka, Japan, on the island of Kyushu. Founded in 1911 as the fourth Imperial University in Japan, it has been recognised as a leading institution of higher education and research in Kyushu, Japan, and beyond.
The history of the university began a few decades before its founding when the medical school of the Fukuoka Domain (福岡藩) was established in 1867, the final year of the Edo period. The school was reorganised as the Fukuoka Medical College of Kyoto Imperial University in 1903. It became independent as Kyushu Imperial University in 1911.
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History
In 1867, the Fukuoka Domain established a medical school called Sanshikan in Tenjin, Fukuoka. Although closed in 1872, its affiliated hospital continued operating. By 1879, it became part of the Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka Medical School, later continuing as the Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka Hospital.
The push for an imperial university in Kyushu led to the establishment of Fukuoka Medical College in 1903 as a branch of Kyoto Imperial University. Financial challenges delayed further development until the Furukawa Zaibatsu's donation in 1906 facilitated the establishment of Kyushu Imperial University in 1911, with Kenjiro Yamakawa, former president of the University of Tokyo, as its first president. In 1947, it was renamed Kyushu University, and in 1949, it expanded by incorporating several local educational institutions.
In 2003, the university was integrated with the Kyushu Institute of Design. It opened its Ito campus in 2005.
Organisation
Kyushu University's incumbent president is Tatsuro Ishibashi, who was elected in 2020 and is expected to serve until September 2026.
The university has 16 faculties, 11 undergraduate schools, and 18 graduate schools.
Faculty of Humanities
Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies
Faculty of Human-Environment Studies
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Economics
Faculty of Languages and Cultures
Faculty of Sciences
Faculty of Mathematics
Faculty of Medical Sciences
Faculty of Dental Science
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Engineering Sciences
Faculty of Design
Faculty of Information Science and Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Agriculture
Kyushu University Hospital
Kyushu University Hospital has historical roots in the 1867 Sanseikan established by the Kuroda Clan. Initially a clinic for a medical institution, it became affiliated with the Fukuoka Prefectural Medical School in 1879. In 1903, it became associated with the newly formed Fukuoka Medical College, a branch of Kyoto Imperial University. The establishment of Kyushu Imperial University in 1911 brought the hospital under its Faculty of Medicine. Post-World War II reforms in 1947 led to its rebranding as the Kyushu University Faculty of Medical Sciences Affiliated Hospital, incorporating various departments, including dental science. The hospital merged in 2003 with hospitals from the Faculty of Dental Science and Medical Institute of Bioregulation to form the current Kyushu University Hospital.
The hospital's history also includes fatal and torturous medical experiments including live dissection on American POWs by the university's medical faculty in 1945, resulting in war crimes convictions.
International Education
Scholarships for international students
Kyushu offers a number of selected scholarships for international students. Some of them are:
Topia Leisure Scholarship (scholarship with work experience)
JASSO - Encourage privately financed international students learning costs
Fukuoka International Student Scholarship
Ushio Foundation Scholarship
Ajinomoto Scholarship
Sun Noh Scholarship
Academic rankings
General rankings
The university was ranked 5th in the 2020 Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings, which is one rank down from 2019. Japanese prep school Kawaijuku ranked Kyushu as the 7th best university in Japan.
It was ranked 132nd in the 2020 QS World University Rankings, and 401-500th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
According to QS, its subject rankings were 123rd in Engineering & IT, 170th in Life Sciences & Biomedicine, and 150th in Natural Sciences. It was also the 18th-best university in Asia in 2011, according to QS Asian University rankings.
Kyushu University's selectivity for undergraduate degrees is regarded as being among the top 15 in the country.
Notable people associated with Kyushu University
Chemistry, Physics and Engineering
Kyozi Kawasaki, physicist, 2001 Boltzmann Medal winner
Genichi Taguchi, engineer and statistician
Heitaro Nakajima, digital audio pioneer, president Aiwa
Physiology or Medicine
Inokichi Kubo, pioneer of otorhinolaryngology
Ōmori Harutoyo, surgeon and first president of the Fukuoka Medical College
Yukata Ido, surgeon, 1919 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine nominee
Naosuke Onodera, surgeon, 1937 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine nominee
Kazuo Yamafuji, scientist, 1964 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine nominee
Hakaru Hashimoto, MD, PhD, medical scientist, discoverer of Hashimoto's thyroiditis
Masatoshi Nei, a Japanese-born American evolutionary biologist, 2013 Kyoto Prize winner
Yoshizumi Ishino, molecular biologist, known for his discovering the DNA sequence of CRISPR
Takehiko Sasazuki MD, PhD emeritus professor, professor of Kyushu University Institute for Advanced Study (高等研究院)
Literature and History
Junzo Shono, a Japanese novelist, 1954 Akutagawa Prize winner
Toshio Shimao, a Japanese novelist, 1977 Yomiuri Prize winner
Kyoichi Katayama, a Japanese author
Rizō Takeuchi, historian
Wolfgang Michel-Zaitsu, historian, first foreigner granted a tenure at a Japanese national university
Hsu Hsing-Ching, president of Chinese Culture University in Taiwan
Yasuhisa Hara, Japanese cartoonist
Kyojin Onishi, Japanese novelist and Marxist
Kyoko Funahashi, Japanese bioarchaeologist
Politics and Business
Shinya Izumi, politician
Robert T. Huang, founder of Synnex