Osaka City University (OCU) (大阪市立大学, Ōsaka shiritsu daigaku), abbreviated to Ichidai or Shidai (市大), was a public university in Japan. It was located in Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka. The university merged with Osaka Prefecture University to form Osaka Metropolitan University in April 2022.
Contents
History
OCU's predecessor was founded in 1880, as Osaka Commercial Training Institute (大阪商業講習所) with donations by local merchants. It became Osaka Commercial School in 1885, then was municipalized in 1889. Osaka City was defeated in a bid to draw the Second National Commercial College (the winner was Kobe City), so the city authorities decided to establish a municipal commercial college without any aid from the national budget. In 1928, the college became Osaka University of Commerce (大阪商科大学), the first municipal university in Japan.
In 1901, the school was reorganized to become Osaka City Commercial College (市立大阪高等商業学校), later authorized under Specialized School Order in 1904. The college had grand brick buildings around the Taishō period.
In 1949 OCU had five faculties (Business / Economics / Law and Literature / Science and Engineering / Home Economics).
In 1953, the Faculty of Law and Literature was divided into two faculties.
In 1955, Osaka City Medical University was incorporated and became the Faculty of Medicine.
In 1959, the Faculty of Science and Engineering was divided into two faculties.
In 1975, the Faculty of Home Economics was reorganized into the Faculty of Human Life Science.
In 2003, the Graduate School of Creative Cities was established.
In 2006, the Urban Research Plaza and the Advanced Research Institute for Natural Science and Technology were established.
Due to financial problems in many cities, all of the municipal universities in Japan were requested to incorporate. OCU became a Public University Corporation in 2006.
In 2015 OCU celebrated its 135th anniversary.
In June 2020, OCU announced it would be merging with Osaka Prefecture University in a new university named University of Osaka. However, after the name was announced on June 26, 2020, Osaka University President released a statement pointing out that the English version of the new university's name was "remarkably similar" to that of Osaka University, adding, "It will cause confusion among our students, and work as a great obstacle for the future of both universities, which are reaching out to the world." The English name ultimately chosen was Osaka Metropolitan University.
Organization
Undergraduate schools
Faculty of Business
Faculty of Economics
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Medicine
School of Nursing
Faculty of Human Life Science
Graduate schools
Graduate School of Business
Graduate School of Economics
Graduate School of Law
Graduate School of Literature and Human Sciences
Graduate School of Science
Graduate School of Engineering
Graduate School of Medicine
Graduate School of Nursing
Graduate School of Human Life Science
Graduate School of Urban Management
Graduate School of Creative Cities
Institutes
Media Center and Library
Center of Education and Research for Disaster Management (CERD)
Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (ReCAP)
URA Center and Osaka City University Incubator
Center for Health Science Innovation (CHSI)
University Hospital
Research Center for Urban Health and Sports
Research Center for Human Rights
Urban Research Plaza
Center for Research and Development of Higher Education
Research Center for Finance & Securities
English Education Development Center
Advanced Research Institute for Natural Science and Technology
Botanical Gardens Faculty of Science Osaka City University; located in Katano)
Toneyama Institute for Tuberculosis Research (a part of Medical School; located in Toyonaka)
Notable alumni
Masao Abe, professor in religious studies
Yoshi Amao, actor
Hideo Hashimoto, soccer player
Takafumi Isomura, former mayor of Osaka City
Takeshi Kaikō, writer
Otogo Kataoka, former president of Nomura Securities
Takamaro Tamiya, a hijacker of Japan Airlines Flight 351
Minoru Segawa, former president of Nomura Securities
Shinya Yamanaka, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2012, the scientist who discovered the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell
Eiichi Yamashita, politician