Cooperative Graduate School System

The Cooperative Graduate School System is a graduate education system which allows students access to facilities and resources in leading edge research institutes to conduct their research by employing the researchers from these institutes as professors and associate professors of the University of Tsukuba.

For each developed country, the training of researchers who are the main providers of knowledge creation is regarded as a high-priority issue. Due to the rapid progress and further sophistication of science and technology, research fields have become more departmentalized and specialized. At the same time, there emerge new interdisciplinary fields that go beyond the boundaries of traditional academic systems, prompting the need for interdisciplinary research.

In particular, interdisciplinary research that requires a wide range of knowledge from the basics to application areas has attached more importance to cooperation between researchers from different fields. There is an increased demand for new interdisciplinary and integrated methods of fostering researchers.

The Cooperative Graduate School System was established to respond to these academic and social needs. We have cooperated with a large number of research institutes run by the government, incorporated administrative agencies (including national research and development agencies), and private companies in and outside of Tsukuba Science City. We employ researchers from these institutes as professors (Cooperative Graduate School) and associate professors (Cooperative Graduate School) and have them supervise the research of our students at research institutes equipped with the latest research facilities and features. Our aim is to diversify and expand the educational and research domain for further enhancement of graduate school education, and to develop new research areas by promoting exchanges with these research institutes.

As of 2023, the University of Tsukuba partners with 31 research institutes and implements cooperation on a scale of 136 professors and 68 associate professors.

The Cooperative Graduate School System has the following two types.

1st Cooperative Graduate School System

Researchers at external research institutes join the Degree Programs as teaching staff and conduct research guidance of the university's graduate students by utilizing leading-edge facilities of the research institutes. Under the 1st Cooperative Graduate School System, a university's full-time faculty member is appointed as a co-supervisor and provides academic and student life support for each student. In addition to research supervision provided at research institutes, students should take coursework offered at the university.

2nd Cooperative Graduate School System

The 2nd Cooperative Graduate School System was launched in 2004, in which an entire curriculum is organized by researchers from an external research institute. The university employs these researchers as teaching staff and institutionalizes a subprogram within a university's degree program. For academic and student life support, full-time university faculty members also cooperate with the researchers. Students registered in the subprograms benefit from cutting-edge level research guidance conducted by the researchers in research institutes with the latest facilities and features, while taking necessary coursework offered at the university.

Currently, the following two subprograms are institutionalized under the 2nd Cooperative Graduate School System.

Subprogram in Materials Science and Engineering (Doctoral Program in Engineering Sciences, Degree Programs in Pure and Applied Sciences)

Partner Institute: National Institute for Materials Science

Subprogram in Advanced Agricultural Technology and Science cooperated with NARO (Doctoral Program in Agricultural Sciences, Degree Programs in Life and Earth Sciences)

Partner Institute: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization

Collaborative Graduate School System

In addition to the cooperative graduate school system, which has a history of more than 30 years, a new "collaborative graduate school system" was established and launched in AY 2015.

The collaborative graduate school system is a unique graduate school system of the University to create an education and research platform through collaboration between the University and research institutions such as national, incorporated administrative agencies (including national research and development agencies) and the private sector. The aim is to realize a venue for human resource development through industry-academia-government collaboration by forming a consortium of research institutions and the University and running a degree program with the consortium as the parent body.

In order to develop human resources who will promote the scientific and technological innovations required by society, this collaborative graduate school system was introduced in recognition of the importance of a system in which industry-academia-government institutions collaborate with universities to develop the human resources they deem needed.

While the cooperative graduate school system is basically a one-on-one collaboration between a university and a research institution, the collaborative graduate school system is characterized by the multiple research institutions participating in the consortium and the University sharing the objective of human resource development, discussing educational content and guidance systems, and collaborating in graduate school education and research guidance.

As of AY 2023, we are operating three degree programs based on the collaborative graduate school system, and we plan to develop more programs in the future.

Currently, the following two subprograms are institutionalized under the Collaborative Graduate School System.

List of Cooperative Graduate Schools

(as of May 1, 2023)

Degree Programs in Pure and Applied Sciences

Master's/Doctoral Program in Physics

Master's/Doctoral Program in Chemistry

Subprogram in Applied Physics, Master's/Doctoral Program in Engineering Sciences

Subprogram in Materials Science, Master's/Doctoral Program in Materials Sciences

Subprogram in Materials Science and Engineering NIMS, Doctoral Program in Engineering Sciences

Degree Programs in Systems and Information Engineering

Master's/Doctoral Program in Policy and Planning Sciences

Master's Program in Service Engineering

Master's/Doctoral Program in Computer Science

Master's/Doctoral Program in Intelligent and Mechanical Interaction Systems　

Master's/Doctoral Program in Engineering Mechanics and Energy

Degree Programs in Life and Earth Sciences

Master's/Doctoral Program in Biology

Master's Program in Mountain Studies

Master's Program in Agro-Bioresources Science and Technology

Subprogram in Advanced Agricultural Technology and Science cooperated with NARO, Doctoral Program in Agricultural Sciences

Doctoral Program in Life and Agricultural Sciences

Doctoral Program in Bioindustrial Sciences

Master's/Doctoral Program in Geosciences

Master's Program in Environmental Sciences, Doctoral Program in Environmental Studies

Degree Programs in Comprehensive Human Sciences

Master's/Doctoral Program in Psychology

Master's/Doctoral Program in Neuroscience

Master's/Doctoral Program in Sport and Wellness Promotion

Master's/Doctoral Program in Design

Doctoral Program in Public Health

Doctoral Program in Sports Medicine