University of Toyama

The University of Toyama is located in Toyama City and Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture, which is located on the West coast, in the center of Japan. Toyama Prefecture is a local district with changes of the seasons where the Tateyama mountain range is in the south and Toyama Bay, on the Sea of Japan, to the north.

The University of Toyama is a university comprised of 3 former national universities; Toyama University, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University and Takaoka National College were integrate in October 2005. This integrated university houses 8 faculties, 6 graduate schools, the University Laboratory, Hospital, and Library, and 12 institutes such as the Center for International Education and Research. There are approximately 9,300 students (including 320 international students) studying at the university.

The University of Toyama has agreements of cooperative science exchange, with universities in the United States, Britain, India, Egypt, Australia, Thailand, South Korea, China, Brazil, Malaysia, and Russia. The International Center conducts a 6-month Japanese education program prior to their entering graduate school, offers extra-curricular Japanese training courses, and gives advice on academic and daily life.

The University of Toyama will uphold a global standard of education and research integrated with life sciences, natural sciences and arts, and social sciences open to the regional community and to the world.

The university will nurture our students with a strong sense of mission and creativity based on the respect for human dignity. We will make contributions to the local, regional and international community, and will promote the harmonious development of science, art and culture, society and the natural environment.

In addition to respecting the individuality of students and building their characters, the University of Toyama provides instruction in broadly based knowledge and in-depth specialized studies. In so doing, we aim to become a comprehensive university that prepares our graduates to be creative and to have a strong sense of mission:

• In order to encourage students' independent study initiatives, respond to various learning needs, and assure high-quality education, we will enhance our educational environment and improve our educational system.
• In our undergraduate programs, we will enhance our liberal arts education and professional education courses, and develop well-rounded creative students capable of contributing to the knowledge-based global community,keeping pace with the growing importance of new knowledge,information and technology.
• In our graduate programs, we will further systematize and improve the level of professional education, and develop students capable of taking on and solving the various problems of the 21st century.

In addition to emphasizing fundamental research, the University of Toyama will seek solutions to various problems of the modern community. By promoting interdisciplinary research, we aim to share advanced research with the region and the world:

• We will value fundamental research and promote the development of scholarship, and promote applied research.
• We will maintain a healthy and competitive research environment, and build a basis for world-class research.
• We will actively seek out embryonic research and support its development.
• We will promote research that takes advantage of our region's characteristics, and use the fruits of the research for the development of the local and international community.

The university is now an academic and research center consisting of eight faculties, including Humanities, Human Development, Economics, Science, Medicine, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Engineering and Art and Design, an institute and a hospital. The University strongly believes in the integration of intellectual resources from across the globe. Under the rubric 'Integrating knowledge of the East and West', the University of Toyama has been pursuing academic excellence through the exchange of ideas with various countries in both East Asia and the rest of the world. Our Museum of Materia Medica which houses a collection of traditional natural and herbal medicines from throughout the world, and the Lafcadio Hearn Library, which houses a collection of books owned by this renowned western scholar of Japan, are two examples of our 'Integrating knowledge of the East and West'. The consolidation of three universities has brought together the achievements of each constituent, university and broadened Toyama's academic and social environment. In this spirit in the new University of Toyama will endeavor to make significant contributions to local, national and international society the 21st century.