Message from the President

Kenichi Hirayama President of Iwate University

The 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program is a national program with the aim of creating internationally recognized institutions of education and research that can acquire unique and innovative research results while fostering students and young researchers. In fiscal 2004, as many as 320 proposals were entered for the five-year project under the theme, "to create educational and research centers that aim to develop an innovative academic field." The entry from Iwate University, entitled "Establishment of Thermo-Biosystem Research Program: A Case Study of the Responses of Biological Systems to Cold," was successfully selected along with another 27 programs, thus contributing greatly to the realization of the university's midterm plan. Through our program, we can help solve issues in the global environment and in food shortage, ultimately helping to secure the prosperity and safety of society. Iwate University's program team consists of nine researchers from the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences and the Graduate School of Engineering, whose average age is 47. I believe that their enthusiasm and energetic capacity will be reflected by great achievements.

The university is ready to provide every support possible to promote the Program. Provision of financial support, human resources and work spaces are only the starting point. We recognize that it is important to reform and prepare institutional organization in order to create an educational and research environment that is attractive enough for highly competent people in other institutions to join our program. In addition, while valuing the cooperation among the team members and staff, a close relationship with other groups in the university, as well as people and organizations in society, is indispensable for the success of the Program. We will create various opportunities for our team to exchange information and opinions with other members in the community.

In recent years, while internationalization and a knowledge-based society have been becoming more realistic in many aspects of society, each institution of higher education and research is required to have a clear justification of its own existence. We at Iwate University believe that the value of the university can be shown when we play a positive role as a regionally based university and work to obtain international recognition at the same time. To achieve these goals, we have been working to create a unique institution of education and research through reviewing the existing organizational schemes and making administrative systems more flexible. The launch of the COE Program provides us with an excellent initiative to continue our efforts to further improve the educational and research activities at Iwate University.

Back