Hokkaido University

Hokkaido University or 北海道大学 (Hokudai) - public higher education institution in Japan.

Hokkaido University - Description

Hokkaido University was founded in 1876 as Sapporo Agricultural College- the nation's first institute of higher education to award bachelor's degrees. "Boys, be ambitious!," the phrase Dr. William S. Clark, the first Vice-Principal, was quoted as saying to his students before leaving Sapporo, is well known among the Japan's youth and also serves as Hokkaido University's maxim. Hokkaido University upholds "The Frontier Spirit," "Global Perspectives," "All-round Education" and "Practical Learning" - concepts that have been developed over its history of more than 130 years as the basic philosophies of education and research. Currently, all the faculty members, students and graduates are making concerted efforts to transform their campus into a global base for education and research. Hokkaido University was founded in 1876 as Sapporo Agricultural College -the nation's first institute of higher education to award bachelor's degrees. "Boys, be ambitious!," the phrase Dr. William S. Clark, the first Vice-Principal, was quoted as saying to his students before leaving Sapporo, is well known among the Japan' youth and also serves as Hokkaido University's maxim. Hokkaido University upholds "The Frontier Spirit," "Global Perspectives," "All-round Education" and "Practical Learning" concepts that have been developed over its history of more than 130 years as the basic philosophies of education and research. Currently, all the faculty members, students and graduates are making concerted efforts to transform their campus into a global base for education and research. Improvement and Internationalization of Education Hokkaido University has been developing internationally minded allrounders by having them acquire expertise and make proactive and comprehensive personal development through general and specialized teaching as well as graduate education. In addition, while stepping up efforts to offer attractive educational and research programs, we are striving to become a global educational and research center by realizing the "strict evaluation of learning results" and "courses respecting the requirements for credits more strictly," promoting education in foreign languages, and building an advanced... Hokkaido University was founded in 1876 as Sapporo Agricultural College, the nation’s first higher education institution to award bachelor’s degrees.The university’s motto “Be ambitious!” is derived from the parting words of the college’s first Vice-Principal Dr. William Clark. Hokkaido University’s four basic philosophies are “The Frontier Spirit,” “Global Perspectives,” “All-round Education” and “Practical Learning.” These philosophies have been developed in its history of more than 130 years, and the university aims to be a global base for education and research. Hokkaido University gained its current name in 1947, and today it accommodates about 17,850 students from 80 countries and about 2,100 academics in 12 faculties, 20 graduate schools, and 27 research institutes and research centers. The university owns two campuses in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan’s four main islands. The spacious 1.9 square kilometer main campus where the majority of students study is situated in the urban area of Sapporo, the 5th largest city of Japan.The other campus is located in Hakodate, a port city in Southern Hokkaido, for School of Fisheries Science.In addition to these two campuses, for the purpose of practical learning, the university possesses various kinds of facilities such as training ships, botanical gardens, experimental farms, and 650 square kilometer experimental forests on and off campus.The university also has off-campus offices in Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Helsinki and Lusaka to further improve international collaboration and information exchange. The alumni in the university’s 139 year history include the followings: Kanzo Uchimura, writer and intellectual in Meiji era (Class of 1880); Inazo Nitobe, author of Bushido, League of Nations Undersecretary-General (Class of 1881); Takeo Arishima, novelist and essayist (Class of 1900); Akira Ifukube, composer of classical music and film music including Godzilla (Class of 1935); Ryuzo Yanagimachi, biologist, pioneer of assisted fertilization technologies (BSc in 1953, DSc in 1960); Akira Suzuki, emeritus professor of Hokkaido University, Nobel Prize winner for chemistry in 2010 (BSc in 1954, MSc in 1956, and DSc in 1960); Yuichiro Miura, alpinist, reached the summit of Mt. Everest at the age of 75 (Class of 1956); Mamoru Mohri, scientist and Japan’s first astronaut (BSc in 1970 and MSc in 1972)