On September 2024, 9, Toyo University and Saitama University held a signing ceremony for a comprehensive partnership agreement at Saitama Kaikan in Urawa Ward, Saitama City, where Toyo University President Etsuko Yaguchi and Saitama University President Takafumi Sakai signed the agreement. They hope to contribute to the revitalization of Saitama Prefecture by focusing on increasing the number of women in science and engineering, which has been called for in the business world.
According to Toyo University, the two universities will establish a liaison council and a total of more than 1,200 researchers will jointly use the research facilities of both universities, such as the Toyo University Bio-Nanoelectronics Research Center in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, and the Saitama University Research Institute Scientific Analysis Support Center in Saitama City, and will also devote all their efforts to nurturing female students in science and engineering.
To foster women in science and engineering, Saitama University has organized the "Saitama Prefecture Women Researchers and Engineers Network" to foster the next generation of female researchers, and Toyo University will participate in this initiative to foster women. In addition, the two universities will also collaborate on outreach classes and on-site visits to manufacturing sites for junior and senior high school students.
Toyo University has campuses in Tokyo and in Kawagoe and Asaka, Saitama Prefecture (Kawagoe and Asaka campuses), and is close to Saitama University, which has a campus in Saitama. The two universities intend to take advantage of this to promote close exchanges between faculty and staff.
Toyo University President Yaguchi commented, "We hope that the two universities will work together to contribute to Saitama Prefecture's educational projects and community activities," while Saitama University President Sakai commented, "We would like to utilize the intellectual power of both universities to work hard for the development of Saitama Prefecture and other parts of society."