Nagoya University


Nagoya University, abbreviated to Meidai, is a Japanese national university located in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It was the last Imperial University in Japan, one of the Designated National University and selected as a Top Type university of Top Global University Project by the Japanese government. It is the 3rd highest ranked higher education institution in Japan.
As of 2014, six Nobel Prize winners have been associated with Nagoya University, the third most in Japan behind Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo.

History

Nagoya University traces its roots back to 1871 when it was a temporary medical school. In 1939 it became Nagoya Imperial University. In 1947 it was renamed Nagoya University, and became a Japanese national university. In 2004 it became a Japanese national university corporation.
The ideal written in the Nagoya University academic charter is to encourage the intelligentsia with courage by providing an education which respects independent thought.
In March 2012 the university played host to the International Symposium on Innovative Nanobiodevices.

Student population

While the majority of its students come from Tōkai region, Nagoya University has a good portion of students from all over Japan.
The school also has many students from abroad. Currently there are over 1300 international students from 78 countries studying in the faculties of Nagoya University. The majority of them are from China and Korea. Among other countries, Taiwan, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan are represented by more than 30 students. Among non-Asian countries, the United States and Brazil sent 16 students each.

Faculties and graduate schools

Faculties

The University's Research Center for Seismology, Volcanology and Disaster mitigation is represented on the national Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction.

Academic rankings

Nagoya University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. This can be seen in several rankings such as the ones shown below.

General rankings

The university has been ranked 15th in 2009 and 21st in 2010 in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities" by Toyo Keizai. In another ranking, Japanese prep school :ja:河合塾|Kawaijuku ranked Nagoya as the 8th best university in Japan.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities 2009 ranks Nagoya University as fourth in Japan.
The 2009 THE-QS World University Rankings
ranks Nagoya University as fifth in Japan.
The 2010 QS Asian University Rankings rated Nagoya number ten in Asia and number five in Japan, while the QS World University Rankings for 2011 ranked Nagoya 80th in the world.

Research performance

Nagoya is one of the top research institutions in Japan. According to Thomson Reuters, Nagoya is the 5th best research university in Japan. Its research standard is especially high in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology & Biochemistry.
:ja:週刊ダイヤモンド|Weekly Diamond reported that Nagoya has the 6th highest research standard in Japan in research funding per researchers in :ja:グローバルCOEプログラム|COE Program. In the same article, it's also ranked 6th in terms of the quality of education by :ja:特色ある大学教育支援プログラム|GP funds per student.
In addition, Nikkei Shimbun　on 16 February 2004 surveyed the research standards in Engineering studies based on Thomson Reuters, :ja:科学研究費補助金|Grants in Aid for Scientific Research and questionnaires to heads of 93 leading Japanese research centers, and Nagoya was placed 9th in this ranking.
Furthermore, Nagoya had the 8th highest number of patents accepted in 2009 among Japanese universities.
It has a high research standard in Social Science & Humanities. Asahi Shimbun summarized the amount of academic papers in Japanese major legal journals by university, and Nagoya University was ranked 4th during 2005-2009. RePEc in January 2011 ranked Nagoya's Economic department as Japan's 13th best economic research university.

Graduate school rankings

Nagoya Law School is considered one of the top law schools in Japan, as it was ranked 10th in the pass rate of the Japanese Bar Examination in 2010.

Alumni rankings

According to the :ja:エコノミスト |Weekly Economist's 2010 rankings, graduates from Nagoya have the 38th best employment rate in 400 major companies in Japan.

Popularity and selectivity

Nagoya is one of the most selective universities in Japan. Its entrance difficulty is usually considered one of the highest in Japan.

Notable alumni and affiliates

Physics and Materials