Fostering Human Resources Who Develop and Explore Next-Generation Substances and Materials

In this program, all students in the first year and the first half of the second year study areas of general fundamental chemistry such as physical, organic, inorganic and analytical chemistry, and chemical engineering, to obtain a thorough grounding in the overall concepts of this discipline. In the second half of the second year, students progress to one of four specialties (polymeric material design, material chemistry design, molecular chemistry design or functional substance design) and take courses relevant to their specialties in line with their interests. The curriculum has been designed not only to enable students to strengthen their fundamental chemistry knowledge base, but also to improve their specialties concerning the creation and assessment of inorganic materials, organic materials, soft biomaterials, synthetic polymeric materials, fiber materials, bio-related substances, medicine, and other substances and materials underpinning the next generation of synthetic materials. We ensure that students will be able to make their presence felt in the global arena.

Educational Program

In organizing the program we have given due consideration to the following:
1) Enabling students to study the fundamentals of natural science in a well-balanced manner in order to appropriately respond to rapid technology reforms and social environmental changes;
2) Helping students easily understand the features of each specialized course and the relationship between the specialized course and the fundamental workings of the natural sciences; and
3) Providing specialized education that nurtures an international mindset strongly rooted in a local perspective in students, as well as developing their individuality and appropriate judgement.

In the early phase (from the first half of the first year to the second half of the second year) of their undergraduate education, all the students obtain the overall fundamentals in an extensive range of areas (physical chemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, chemical engineering, etc.) based on chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc. The curriculum for third-year students has been designed to cover everything from the fundamentals of substances and materials (polymeric materials, inorganic materials, organic materials, and bio-related materials) to practical applications (to social needs). Ensuring that students become academically independent by the end of the third year, our university has instituted a unique “3 x 3” system in which the fourth year in the undergraduate program is practically regarded as the first master’s degree program year. (In this system, undergraduate fourth year students, regarded as “M-0 (zero)” students, study a graduate school curriculum. Accordingly, in practice, the university’s educational system consists of three-year undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs.) This program structure is organized in line with our university’s course registration system to maximize individual student needs.