Cultivating the drive and ability to create social infrastructure for the next generation
An Appeal for Your Support to Improve the Research and Education Environment to Train Future Generations of Engineers
Since 1873, when it was founded in the Engineering Institution of the Ministry of Public Works as modern Japan’s first civil engineering course, many outstanding engineers from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Civil Engineering have gone on to contribute to the construction of the infrastructure that provided the foundation of each era, both in Japan and around the world.
In every new era, our department’s paramount theme has always been the question of how best to educate engineers who would go on to create the future while meeting the demands of society, and to seek the form of that education in practice. As bearers of the responsibility of educating the engineers of today, we are constantly pursuing an ideal mode of engineering education as we explore the prospective demands of the society of the future, bringing originality to conventional lectures as we work to enhance our practical education programs, including various exercises and on-site training.
In recent years, the social changes impacting the education and research environment have been growing increasingly rapid and dynamic. Academic fields have become more sophisticated and interdisciplinary. Social issues have grown in complexity and are no longer constrained by national borders. There is greater demand for the fruits of academic scholarship to be returned society, namely through the strengthening of practical skills. These changes, together with the advancement of various educational tools and the diversification of educational methodologies that are taking place in conjunction with advanced information technology, are a signal that the infrastructure of the future will become increasingly diverse, radical, and innovative. The capabilities of engineers will also need to go beyond mere advanced specialization to include deeper and broader perspectives, knowledge, and insights.
What is needed to educate engineers for the future, we believe, is an educational environment that motivates active and independent learning, induces diverse forms of mutual communication, and fosters the ability to arouse the personality and strengths of the individual as well as the diversity and breadth of the team. Accordingly, we are keenly aware of the limits to what can be achieved simply by improving the curriculum and programs that we have had in place thus far, as well as of the need to refurbish the physical infrastructure of our educational and research environment.
Specifically, we are comprehensively and developmentally reviewing the public education and research spaces in the Faculty of Engineering Building No. 1, including the laboratories, seminar rooms, and library. In addition to refreshing their conventional functionality, we are planning to renovate them as the communication-based learning spaces that will be needed to educate future generations of engineers.
Our plan includes the evolution and enhancement of conventional lectures and exercises, workshop-style exercises and practical training based on mutual communication between faculty and students, hybrid online and face-to-face lectures and seminars, international research exchanges and remote training using online features, seminars and symposiums by external lecturers, and various other educational programs and research exchange activities. The objective is to create an environment that stimulates the practice of diverse educational programs and research exchanges. Moreover, by promoting exchanges with people in the private sector, government, and other sites of practice, and by establishing an environment for students to hone their comprehensive communication skills, we hope to produce even more engineers possessing the drive and ability to give back to society by engaging earnestly with real-world problems.
Nevertheless, given the prevailing situation for Japanese universities, it will be extremely difficult to achieve these goals solely using the funds that we can secure on our own. In light of this, based on a philosophy of refurbishing the educational and research environment to foster future generations of engineers, and in order to solicit donations from individuals and corporations who wish to show support for the above objectives, we have established the UTokyo Fund to Improve the Research and Education Environment for Civil Engineering. We earnestly entreat those who are active in civil engineering and related fields, as well as UTokyo’s civil engineering alumni community, for their understanding and support. We invite you to join us in shaping the next generation of engineering education. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and support.
How Your Donations Will Be Used
・To defray maintenance and renovation expenses associated with the comprehensive reorganization of the library, laboratories, seminar and lecture rooms (where necessary), and student community spaces
・Funding for equipment, including worktables and chairs for lectures and practical exercises
・Funding for the facility upgrades necessary for online and digital education
University of Tokyo Department of Civil Engineering
Project Leader
Prof. Yoshimitsu Tajima
Head of the Department of Civil Engineering,
Graduate School of Engineering
