Osaka University

Osaka University (大阪大学 Ōsaka daigaku?), or Handai (阪大 Handai?) is a major national university in Osaka, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan, as the Prefectural Osaka Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan.

Hideki Yukawa obtained his Nobel Prize in Physics on his early work conducted at Osaka University.

History

Osaka University traces its origin back to 1869 when Osaka Prefecture Medical School was founded in downtown Osaka. The school was later transformed into the Prefectural Osaka Medical College with a university status by the University Ordinance (Imperial Ordinance No. 388 of 1918) in 1919. The college merged with the newly-founded College of Science to form Osaka Imperial University（大阪帝國大学） in 1931. Osaka Imperial University was inaugurated as the sixth imperial university in Japan. As part of the University, Osaka Technical College was later included to form the school of Engineering two years later. The university was eventually renamed as Osaka University in 1947.

Merging with Naniwa High School and Osaka High School as a result of the government's education system reform in 1949, Osaka University started its postwar era with five faculties: Science, Medicine, Engineering, Letters, and Law. After that, faculties, graduate schools, and research institutes have been successively established. Among these are the School of Engineering Science, the first of its kind among Japanese national universities, which draws upon the excellence of both sciences and engineering disciplines, and the School of Human Sciences, which covers its cross-disciplinary research interest as broadly as psychology, sociology, and education. Built on the then-existing faculties, 10 graduate schools were set up as part of the government's education system reform program in 1953. Two graduate schools, the Graduate School of Language and Culture and the cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional Osaka School of International Public Policy, add to the list, making the number of graduate schools reach 12 in 1994.

In 1993, Osaka University Hospital was relocated from the Nakanoshima campus in downtown Osaka to the Suita campus, completing the implementation of the university's plan to integrate the scattered facilities into the Suita and Toyonaka campuses. In October 2007, a merger between Osaka University and Osaka University of Foreign Studies was completed. The merger made Osaka University the only national university in the country with the School of Foreign Studies, with the exception being Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. In addition, the merger made the university the largest national university in the country.

Campus

Suita, Toyonaka and Minoh are the university's three campuses. Home to the university's headquarters, the Suita campus extends across Suita city and Ibaraki city in Osaka prefecture. The Suita campus houses faculties of Human Sciences, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Engineering. It contains the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences and a portion of the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. The campus is also home to the Nationwide Joint Institute of Cyber Media Center and Research Center for Nuclear Physics. Because access to the campus by public transportation is relatively inconvenient, automobiles, motorcycles, and bicycles are commonly seen within the campus. While club activities are primarily conducted at the Toyonaka campus, only tennis circle activities are concentrated in the Suita campus because of its home to many tennis facilities.

The Toyonaka campus is home to faculties of Letters, Law, Economics, Science, and Engineering Science. It is also the academic base for Graduate Schools of International Public Policy, Language and Culture, (a portion of) Information Science, and the Center for the Practice of Legal and Political Expertise. Like the Suita campus, the Toyonaka campus also houses part of the National Institute of Cyber Media Center. All freshmen attend classes in Toyonaka campus at their first year of enrollment.

The Minoh campus was incorporated following the merger with Osaka University of Foreign Studies in October 2007. The Minoh campus is home to School of Foreign Studies, World Languages Research Center, and Japanese and Japanese Culture Education Center.

In addition to these three campus, the former Nakanoshima campus, the university's earliest campus located in downtown Osaka, had served as the hub for the faculty of medicine until the transfer to the Suita campus was completed in 1993. Starting from April 2004, the Nakanoshima campus has been transformed into "Nakanoshima Center", or "Campus Innovation Center", serving as a venue for information exchange and association with academic as well as non-academic communities.

Academics

Organization of Osaka University

11 Faculties with 10 Corresponding Graduate Schools:
School of Letters, Human Sciences, Foreign Studies(School only), Law,Economics, Science, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Engineering, Engineering Science.

Five Independent Graduate Schools:
Graduate School of Language and Culture, Osaka School
of International Public Policy, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Law School.

Five Research Institutes:
Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Institute for Protein Research, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Joining and Welding Research Institute.

Two University Hospitals:
University Hospital, University Dental Hospital.

One Library with Three Branches:
Main Library, Life Sciences Branch Library, Suita Branch Library, Minoh Branch Library.

20 Joint-Use Facilities:
International Student Center, etc.

Three Nationwide Joint-Use Facilities:
Research Center for Nuclear Physics, Cybermedia Center,Institute of Laser Engineering.

Timeline

1724 Establishment of the Kaitokudo (School of General Education)
1838 Establishment of the Tekijuku (School of Dutch Studies in the Edo Period)
1869 Establishment of the hospital supervised by the Ministry of Education (Presently, MEXT)
1880 Establishment of the Osaka Prefecture Medical School and the Osaka Prefecture Hospital
1896 Establishment of the Osaka Industrial School
1915 Establishment of the Osaka Prefecture University Hospital
1931 Establishment of the Osaka Imperial University
1949 Establishment of Osaka University (new system)
2004 Establishment of the National University corpration Osaka University

As of May 1, 2007, Osaka University had accepted 1,032 international students from 79 countries and regions.

Osaka University ranked 46th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

Osaka University ranked 44th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
Osaka University ranked 43rd in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking
Osaka University ranked 49th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Osaka University ranked 45th in the 2011 QS World University Ranking