On 22 June 1907 (Mēji 40), Tohoku Imperial University (東北帝國大學, Tōhoku teikoku daigaku) was established by the Meiji government as the third Imperial University of Japan, after Tokyo Imperial University (1877) and Kyoto Imperial University (1897). From its inception, it advocated 'Open-door' policies, becoming the first university in Japan to accept both female students in 1913, and foreign students.2
It was not until 1911 that teaching and research activities started in Sendai. When the university was founded in 1907 it only had one faculty (college), the College of Agriculture, in Sapporo, Hokkaido. This college, originally founded in 1875 as the Sapporo Agricultural College (札幌農學校, Sapporo nō gakkō), precedes the establishment of the university, and in 1918, it became independent to form another imperial university, Hokkaido Imperial University, in its own right. The School of Science was established in Sendai in 1911, followed by the School of Medicine (formerly Sendai Medical College) in 1915, the Faculty of Engineering in 1919, and the Faculty of Law and Literature in 1922.3
In 1947, during the post-war educational reform, the university dropped the word 'imperial' along with other imperial universities, and assumed its current name, Tohoku University. It was also this year that the university's academic scope came to cover agriculture again, with the establishment of a new Faculty of Agriculture in Sendai. In 1949, the Faculty of Law and Literature was split to form independent faculties of Law, Literature, and Economics. A Faculty of Education was added in 1949, Dentistry in 1965, and Pharmacy in 1972. Tohoku has been a National University Corporation since April 2004.4
Subsequent to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the university was declared closed until further notice, but with a tentative re-opening date of the end of the following April.5 The Aobayama, Katahira, Amamiya, and Kawauchi campuses are all at least 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from the ocean, towards the mountains, and therefore suffered no damage resulting from the tsunami. No deaths or serious injuries within the faculty and student body were reported on campus grounds. However, earthquake damage lead to the closure of 27 buildings and caused millions of dollars of damage to equipment. Classes have resumed normally since early May 2011 and plans for restoring, reinforcing or replacing damaged buildings are underway.
Principal four campuses are in the Sendai City, Japan;
Amamiya campus and some institutes transferred to the new extension at Aobayama campus in April 2017 [1].
Tohoku University has a high reputation, and this is recognised as shown in the rankings below.
In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024, it is ranked 130th globally, making it the third-highest-ranking university in Japan, after the University of Tokyo (29th) and Kyoto University (55th).13 The Times Higher Education Japan University Rankings, which is entirely based on teaching and engagement unlike the world university rankings, placed Tohoku University 1st in Japan in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.141516
In the QS World University Rankings 2024, Tohoku University is ranked 113th globally and fifth in Japan, after UTokyo, KyotoU, OsakaU, and Tokyo Tech.17
Tohoku University is one of the top research institutions in Japan. According to Thomson Reuters, Tohoku University is the ninth most innovative university in the Asia-Pacific area.21Its research excellence is especially distinctive in Materials Science (1st in Japan, third in the world), Physics (2nd in Japan, tenth in the world), Pharmacology & Toxicology (3rd in Japan, 64th in the world) and Chemistry (6th in Japan, 20th in the world).22
Times Higher Education also reported that Tohoku University was ranked 3rd in Japan (201st - 250th in the world) for the World University Rankings 2022 by Subject: social sciences.23 The social sciences ranking includes the weightings such as Research: volume, income and reputation (accounts for 32.6 per cent) and Citations: research influence (accounts for 25 per cent).24
In addition, Nature Index ranked Tohoku University as 4th in Japan (90th in the world, 38th in Asia Pacific) on 2023 tables: Institutions.25 The 2022 tables are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. Before the 2022 edition, Nature Index also ranked Tohoku University as 5th in Japan (77th in the world, 28th in Asia Pacific) on 2021 tables: Institutions, that are based on Nature Index data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020.26
According to the Qs World university rankings on 2012/9 surveyed about the general standards in Engineering&Technology field, Tohoku university was placed 56th (world), fifth (national).27
As Tohoku University has been emphasizing 'practical' research, Tohoku received the top place for its number of patents accepted (324) during 2009 among Japanese Universities.28
Tohoku University Law School is one of the most famous Law schools in Japan, as it was ranked fifth in the passing rate of Japanese Bar Examination in 2020.29
Mines ParisTech : Professional Ranking World Universities ranks Tohoku University as 13th in the world (5th in Japan) in 2011 in terms of the number of alumni listed among CEOs in the 500 largest worldwide companies.30
Tohoku University is regarded as a selective university, with its faculty of medicine being particularly noted for its selectivity. It is usually ranked amongst the most selective STEM degrees in the country, alongside the medicine, engineering and science degrees at the University of Tokyo and the faculties of medicine of TMDU, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, and Keio.31
Many world-class celebrities have attended or served at Tohoku University.
38°15′15″N 140°52′25″E / 38.25417°N 140.87361°E / 38.25417; 140.87361
Tohoku University Annual Review Tohoku University's official website accessed June 2018 http://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/about/images/tu_annualreview2016_e.pdf ↩
on castle grounds, Tokuku.ac.jp, Retrieved 17 August 2016 http://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/about/history.html ↩
"History of Tohoku University Campus". tohoku.ac.jp. Tohoku University. Retrieved 7 April 2012. http://campus.bureau.tohoku.ac.jp/en_tu_ayumi.html ↩
"Important notices from Tohoku University (11:00 AM, March 14th, 2011)". http://www.tohoku.ac.jp/english/ ↩
Research Institute of Electrical Communication On Tohoku University's official website accessed at December 15, 2008 http://www.riec.tohoku.ac.jp/index-e.html ↩
Institute of Development Aging and Cancer On Tohoku University's official website accessed at December 15, 2008 http://www.idac.tohoku.ac.jp/index.en.php/ ↩
Institute of Fluid Science On Tohoku University's official website accessed at December 15, 2008 http://www.ifs.tohoku.ac.jp/index_e.html ↩
Institute for Material Research Archived 2007-08-17 at the Wayback Machine On Tohoku University's official website accessed at December 15, 2008 http://www.imr.tohoku.ac.jp/eng/index.html ↩
Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials On Tohoku University's official website accessed at December 15, 2008 http://www.tagen.tohoku.ac.jp/ ↩
"IRIDeS - International Research Institute of Disaster Science". Retrieved 15 July 2015. http://irides.tohoku.ac.jp/eng/ ↩
"ToMMo | Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization". ToMMo | Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization (in Japanese). 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2021-12-24. https://www.megabank.tohoku.ac.jp/english/ ↩
"World University Rankings". Times Higher Education (THE). 2023-09-25. Retrieved 2024-02-01. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking ↩
"Japan University Rankings 2022". Times Higher Education (THE). 2022-03-16. Retrieved 2022-07-06. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/rankings/japan-university/2022 ↩
"Japan University Rankings 2020". 19 March 2020. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/rankings/japan-university/2020#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats ↩
Cite error: The named reference Rankings_ENSMP_W was invoked but never defined (see the help page). /wiki/Help:Cite_errors/Cite_error_references_no_text ↩
"QS World University Rankings 2024". Top Universities. Retrieved 2024-02-03. https://www.topuniversities.com/world-university-rankings ↩
"QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024". QS World University Rankings. https://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings/2024 ↩
"World University Rankings by subject". Times Higher Education World University Rankings. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/by-subject ↩
"ShanghaiRanking's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2023". Academic Ranking of World Universities. https://www.shanghairanking.com/rankings/gras/2023 ↩
Asia Pacific’s Most Innovative Universities – 2018 https://www.reuters.com/article/technology/asia-pacifics-most-innovative-universities-2018-idUSKCN1J02SP/ ↩
"Thomson Reuters 20 Top research institutions in Japan" (in Japanese). Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 2011-06-13. (this ranking includes non-educational institutions) https://web.archive.org/web/20110613213519/http://science.thomsonreuters.jp/press/release/2011/esi2011/ranking/ ↩
"World University Rankings 2022 by subject: social sciences". Times Higher Education (THE). 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2022-07-21. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2022/subject-ranking/social-sciences ↩
"World University Rankings 2022 by subject: social sciences methodology". Times Higher Education (THE). 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2022-07-21. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings-2022-subject-social-sciences-methodology ↩
"2023 tables: Institutions | Annual tables | Nature Index". www.natureindex.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29. https://www.natureindex.com/annual-tables/2023/institution/all/all/countries-Japan ↩
"2021 tables: Institutions | Annual tables | Nature Index". www.natureindex.com. Retrieved 2022-07-21. https://www.natureindex.com/annual-tables/2021/institution/all/all/countries-Japan ↩
"QS world university ranking(2012)". topuniversities.com. Retrieved September 18, 2012. http://www.topuniversities.com/institution/tohoku-university ↩
"13.2009年国内大学別特許公開件数 | 特許庁 アーカイブ" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-03-24. Retrieved 2022-07-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20110324030841/https://www.jpo.go.jp/shiryou/toushin/nenji/nenpou2010/toukei/2-13.pdf ↩
"令和2年司法試験法科大学院等別合格者数等(合格率順)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220706085812/https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20210201-mxt_senmon02-000012351_4.pdf ↩
"INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL RANKING OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS 2011 SURVEY | MINES ParisTech" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2022-07-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20110720162234/http://www.mines-paristech.fr/Actualites/PR/Ranking2011EN-Fortune2010.pdf ↩
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Survey on the image seen from human resources personnel:Ranking of the ability to get jobs|Nikkei HR 2021.06.02 release https://web.archive.org/web/20210602073856/https://www.nikkeihr.co.jp/news/2021/0602435.html ↩
The number of universities in Japan is 788 as of April 1, 2021.|Ōbun Sha http://eic.obunsha.co.jp/resource/viewpoint-pdf/202104.pdf ↩
Image held by human resources personnel of companies of Japan / Valuation from the ex-students already employed / The Nikkei・Nikkei HR Survey 2021-06-02 https://web.archive.org/web/20210602073856/https://www.nikkeihr.co.jp/news/2021/0602435.html ↩
Number of listed companies & listed shares of stock|JPX https://www.jpx.co.jp/listing/co/index.html ↩
CNN rebroadcasting NHK, 13 March 2011. ↩
"草原名人:开创蒙古语言研究黄金时期的清格尔泰 (zh) Cǎoyuán míngrén: Kāichuàng ménggǔ yǔyán yánjiū huángjīn shíqí de qīng gé ěr tài [Famous man of the steppe: Chinggaltai, who pioneered the golden age of Mongolian language research]". People's Daily. 2007-07-19. Retrieved 2010-06-02. http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/8198/85845/85850/88530/6006814.html ↩