Type Public (National) President Kiyohito Koyama Total enrollment 7,648 (1 May 2015) Phone +81 23-628-4744 | Established 1878 (1949) Academic staff 777 (2007) Administrative staff 1,834 (2007) | |
 | ||
Motto "Act Globally, Base Locally" Endowment US$ 320 million (FY2006) Address Japan, 〒990-8560 Yamagata Prefecture, Yamagata, 小白川町一丁目4-12 Undergraduate tuition and fees 535,800 JPY (2011), International tuition: 535,800 JPY (2011) Similar Hirosaki University, Tohoku University, Iwate University, Akita University, Fukushima University | ||
Yamagata University (YU) (山形大学, Yamagata daigaku) is a national university located in the Japanese cities of Yamagata, Yonezawa, and Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture.
Contents
- Yamagata university virtual open campus
- History
- Campuses and colleges
- Campuses
- Faculties
- Graduate schools
- Research facilities
- Other facilities
- Affiliations
- Notable people and alumni
- Points of interest
- References
The university was established in 1949, but its origin can be traced back to the Yamagata Normal School (山形師範学校, Yamagata Shihan Gakkō), a public teacher-training institution, founded in 1878 in Yamagata City. The university also has other roots: the Yonezawa Higher Technical School (米沢高等工業学校, Yonezawa Kōtō Kōgyō Gakkō) founded in 1910 in Yonezawa City, the Yamagata Higher School (山形高等学校, Yamagata Kōtō Gakkō) founded in 1920 in Yamagata City, the Yamagata Youth Normal School (山形青年師範学校, Yamagata Seinen Shihan Gakkō) founded in 1922 in Yamagata City, and the Yamagata Prefectural Agricultural College (山形県立農林専門学校, Yamagata Kenritsu Nōrin Senmon Gakkō) founded in 1947 in Tsuruoka City.
Yamagata University is the second-largest university in the Tohoku Region. The university has six faculties and about 10,000 students in four campuses. It also has an additional subcampus in which University K-9 schools are administered.
Yamagata university virtual open campus
History
The Imperial Japan (Meiji) Government decided to merge the "old" Yamagata, Okitama, and Tsuruoka Prefectures into one new Yamagata Prefecture in August 1876. Each of the former three prefectures had its own normal schools, but these were closed with the discontinuance of their administrative bodies. The direct institutional history dates back to 1877 when the Congress of new Yamagata Prefecture authorized an establishment of a new public teacher-training institution, Yamagata Prefectural Normal School, which was founded in September 1878 in Hatago-machi, Yamagata City.
Meanwhile, Yonezawa Higher Technical School, the first national school of higher education in the prefecture, was founded in 1910. The institute was the seventh National Higher Technical School in Japan following the establishment of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kumamoto, and Sendai Higher Technical Schools. It was renamed the Yonezawa Engineering College under reformation of the law in 1944.
Ten years after the establishment of the Yonezawa Higher Technical School, another national school of higher education was founded (1920) in Yamagata Prefecture, Yamagata Higher School, located in Yamagata City and the 14th national higher school in Japan. During World War II, the United States' bombers destroyed the Komagome laboratories of the Japanese science research institute RIKEN, and it was evacuated to several local cities (Kanazawa, Osaka and Yamagata) as the situation worsened. One of the evacuations sites was Yamagata Higher School.
The National Yonezawa Higher Technical School and Yamagata Higher School were both prestigious schools at the time and played a central role when Yamagata University was established after World War II. The two schools produced a number of exceptional graduates, and alumni numbered about 5,500 and 5,000, respectively.
To meet the growing needs of primary and secondary education, Yamagata Prefecture founded one more public teacher-training institution, the Yamagata Prefectural Teacher's School for Vocational Supplementary Education, in 1922. The school developed and was renamed the Yamagata Youth Teachers School when control was transferred to the Japanese Ministry of Education (文部省, Monbushō) in 1944. Yamagata Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry School, founded in 1947 in Tsuruoka City, was also one of the predecessors of current Yamagata University.
Yamagata University was established on 31 May 1949 following the National School Establishment Law. Five old institutions of higher education in Yamagata Prefecture were integrated to form the new university: Yamagata Normal School founded in 1878, Yonezawa Engineering College founded in 1910, Yamagata Higher School founded in 1920, Yamagata Youth Teachers School founded in 1922, and Yamagata Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry School founded in 1947. The new university had a Faculty of Literature and Sciences, a Faculty of Education, a Faculty of Engineering, and a Faculty of Agriculture.
In 2006, Yuki Akio became the new university president in an election that caused much acrimony and hit the national press. Although he did not win the popular vote, a cabal of non-university Election Committee members forced through his nomination. Yuki was a civil servant at the Japanese Ministry of Education at the time and his appointment attracted much criticism for being a case of amakudari, a corrupt practice the government had vowed to stamp out.
Campuses and colleges
Yamagata University has four main campuses, Yamagata-Kojirakawa, Yamagata-Iida, Yonezawa and Tsuruoka. Approximately 10,000 students are enrolled, including 177 international students. Yamagata-Matsunami Campus has no research facility except for Teacher Training Research Center; there exists University K-9 schools. Also the university has the Tokyo Satellite Center (3-3-6-503 Shibaura, Minato, Tokyo 108-0023, Japan).
Campuses
Faculties
Yamagata University consists of six faculties:
Graduate schools
Yamagata University consists of six graduate schools and a united graduate course:
Research facilities
Other facilities
Affiliations
Yamagata University is affiliated with 48 universities and institutes in 18 countries. The University maintains international exchange agreements with 25 institutions in nine different countries (2007).