Dean, School of Engineering/

Dean, Graduate School of Engineering/

Dean, Faculty of Engineering/ Masaki Mito

The School and Graduate School of Engineering at Kyushu Institute of Technology is located in Tobata Ward, Kitakyushu City, where the institute’s predecessor, Meiji Vocational School, was founded. At the same time, it has aspects of an urban campus with excellent access from JR Kokura Station, a gateway to Kitakyushu City. In this way, the lush green campus, which was celebrated as the “autonomous hill in the green forest” when the school opened in 1909, has a beautiful campus with new buildings that retain the vestiges of history in various places, including the main gate. Here, more than 3,000 students are studying to become engineers and scientists working in the world. 

The six departments of the School of Engineering and the master’s (nine courses) and doctoral programs of the Graduate School of Engineering conduct education and research activities based on “manufacturing.” They have inherited the educational philosophy of Meiji Vocational School, which sought to cultivate valuable human resources for Japan’s early modern industrialization as “gentlemen proficient in technology.” There has been much appreciation for the activities of the institute’s graduates in the world of industry, and you could say that this educational philosophy shines all the brighter in today’s chaotic society. The undergraduate and graduate education is based on a substantial basic science education in mathematics and physics, with the curriculum designed to cultivate the ability to adapt to diverse social changes, while at the same time providing various forms of advanced specialized education. Moreover, there are many “manufacturing” projects in which students work independently, such as the “student formula” and the “satellite development project.” The alumni association, the Meisenkai, has been a strong supporter of these projects. Moreover, at the employment support seminars hosted by Meisenkai, alumni working at companies meet with current students, telling their juniors about such issues as the social situation in each industry, cutting-edge information on technology, what kind of profession engineering is, and what you need to do as an engineer when you are still a student. Through such interactions with alumni, students gain a strong awareness of a variety of issues and an attitude of independent learning that in turn leads to active participation in the real world after graduation and ultimately manifest as a high employment rate for the institute’s students. 

Your undergraduate and graduate studies are the time just before you embark on your own in society, a crucial time that affects the direction of the rest of your life. The School and Graduate School of Engineering await aspiring international engineers and scientists who upon completion will spread their wings into the wide world from within the institute’s fantastic education and research environment.