Tokyo Institute of Technology has concluded a collaboration agreement with the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) to develop human resources in the field of materials. NIMS researchers will become collaborating faculty members at Tokyo Institute of Technology's School of Materials Science and Engineering, and will guide doctoral course students from admission to credit acquisition.
According to Tokyo Institute of Technology, the agreement signing ceremony was held at the Tokyo Institute of Technology Ookayama Campus in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, and Tokyo Institute of Technology President Kazuya Masu and NIMS President Kazuhiro Takarano signed the agreement.
Doctoral students at Tokyo Institute of Technology who receive guidance from NIMS researchers are employed as fixed-term staff by NIMS under the ``NIMS Junior Researcher System.'' For doctoral students, there is the advantage of being able to earn a doctoral degree while conducting research at NIMS, which has state-of-the-art equipment.
The ``NIMS Collaborative Graduate School System'', in which NIMS researchers serve as lead supervisors and supervise doctoral students, also applies to Tokyo Institute of Technology. This is the seventh university to adopt the collaborative graduate school system, following the University of Tsukuba, Waseda University, and Osaka University.
As it has been pointed out that Japan's scientific and technological capabilities are declining, nurturing the next generation of researchers has become an urgent issue. However, the number of students entering doctoral programs at domestic universities has continued to decline since 2003, and Japan's population is now on the decline. It has fallen to about two-thirds of Germany and half of the UK.
