Process

Reviewing the education and research system was one of the most important measures in the medium-term plan for 2012 at the University of Tsukuba. Since 2009, the university has started surveying its challenges in the fields of education, research, and management. In 2010, the "Exploratory Committee on Future Education Research System" was established to consider the matters.
The committee compiled an interim report in October 2010. It also held a debriefing session, invited opinions from the whole university, and had dialogues with each department. Based on the feedbacks from the meetings, it finalized the revised version of the basic policy titled "About the university's future education and research system" in February 2011. After these efforts, the new education and research system was introduced into the University of Tsukuba in April 2012.

Brief Overview of the Reform

Establishment of a new faculty organization was an essential feature of this reform.
"Faculty", the new faculty organization of the university, has been positioned to help promote each study field's development and cooperation among different departments in the whole university.
Faculty takes fundamental responsibility in both teaching and researching. In principle, all the teaching staff belong to one of the Faculty organizations, and engage themselves in fundamental research. In addition, they provide education at the Schools, Colleges, Graduate Schools, or Centers of the university, according to each organization's aim.

One of the reasons for the establishment of Faculty was to make the most of the limited human resources and improve the quality of education sustainably. It has been established as an organization independent from other education and research organizations of the university. This enabled each teaching staff of different Faculty organizations to provide a collaborative class across their research fields. It is expected that education and research at the university will be more interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary, and the functions of education, research, and management will also be strengthened.

In the education field, Faculty aims to provide education placing importance on the students' perspectives, assure the quality of university degrees, and conduct education with the flexibility adapting to social demands.
On the research front, Faculty aims to enhance the university's research functions by introducing a support system for researchers. It also aims to take measures to help the research centers develop more flexible environment to conduct research activities.
In the field of management, Faculty aims to create an environment where various education and research activities are conducted effectively, by making the most of human resources at the university, and having faculty staff have fundamental responsibility in both teaching and researching.
The University of Tsukuba aims to improve the quality of education and research with its new Faculty system and try to enhance the excellence in education to be accepted by international standards.