Search the Community

The remarkable strides made in Japanese science and technology have been accompanied by no less outstanding achievements by the Japanese industry over the last few decades. The time has already arrived. There is a need for a new approach to science and technology, facilitating the formation of a positive, balanced, and supportive relationship between man's environment and the industry's progress and needs. As such, it is a university that places its most significant emphasis on graduate-level education. The Nagaoka University of Technology aims to establish itself as an indispensable member of a global society. A university that creates GIGAKU with a proactive approach to societal change produces engineers with practical, creative capabilities and a spirit of service that will lead society into the future and emphasizes graduate-level education. A pressing issue today is the development of human resources able to find the region's strength from a global perspective in response to recent rapid globalization and bring about the technological innovation that contributes to the creation of new industry with international competitiveness. To support this development and enhance cooperative efforts, the three institutions of Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT), Toyohashi University of Technology, and National Institute of Technology established an industry-academia–government collaborative, integrated campus research and technological development in 2013. The three institutes have been working on cooperative projects with regional industry on a nationwide scale. This educational program fosters engineers who can achieve innovation. At the same time, understanding market needs and executing practical research and development can be achieved only through cooperative education, involving technical colleges through to universities of technology. The Nagaoka University of Technology was selected for participation in the "Top Global University Project" established by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology in 2014. From the 109 universities that applied all over Japan, 37 universities (including 21 national universities) were selected as "universities with a high level of international acceptance and international competitiveness." NUT has set the goal of being "a university that leads the way in Innovative Global Engineering Education with a strong network among strategic regions in the next generation." We will spend the next decade promoting the project to attain the goal of being a university that assumes a leading role in the globalization of Japanese society. Our project will expand a system for cultivating practical engineers, including high schools and colleges of technology (KOSEN), to overseas countries while building an international GIGAKU education and research network. We will also expand the industry-academia collaboration models that NUT has promoted overseas and construct an international GIGAKU Techno Park Network. The project is intended to enable students to move freely across industry-academia integrated campuses that are developed worldwide and enable them to earn degrees in an environment where they can receive education in their desired setting. At present, about 60 students (approximately 15% of internship students) every year participate in six-month overseas internships and acquire overseas experience. In ten years, more than 40% of students will be able to experience study abroad (including internships) for more than three months by completing their master's program. With international students accounting for approximately 15% of all students, NUT is among the foremost fully internationalized universities in Japan. The number of international students will be 30% of all students in ten years. By learning with international students, teachers, engineers, and business persons from all over the world (all graduate school classes are conducted in English), students can acquire the ability to play an active role in the international arena. In this way, we foster engineers and researchers who are active at the global level and undertake research and development and create a new industry on a worldwide scale. The Nagaoka University of Technology produces challenging global engineers who have a high level of GIGAKU ability (ability in the field + ability to research + ability to innovate + ability to practice), who take up the challenge to investigate unexplored areas and fields boldly, and who can create technological innovation. View full university

By adopting a comprehensive new approach that considers design from a range of perspectives - from artistic to engineering, information, and economic the Nagaoka Institute of Design seeks to encourage students to discover new roles and possibilities for design in the 21st century. From the campus layout to the buildings, facilities, and types of equipment, every aspect of the study environment has been designed to serve an educational purpose. Through such efforts, we continually strive to realize an innovative design education philosophy befitting the new age in which we live. Our curriculum is based on the belief that students learn by acquiring critical skills and a creative disposition through practice. For these reasons, we emphasize practical training and seminars. Many of our classes are taught by working designers, dealing with the latest practical issues facing the design world. We view the community as an ideal environment for practical education and research and seek to contribute to the local community by improving education, culture, industry, and urban development. Through the Design R&D Center, established as an affiliate of the Nagaoka Institute of Design, we make the results of our design research available to the public community by undertaking beneficial research with industry or local authorities. The Textile Studio offers students practical training in weaving on various equipment, including Swedish countermarch looms, traditional Japanese tackle (Kokoro) looms, and computer-controlled dobby looms. Each student has access to their computer and acquires a broad range of computer skills, from basic computer operations to word processing and spreadsheet software. Students also use graphics programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator and CG and CAD applications to help create their work. When not used for classes, the Computer Seminar Room is open to all students. Macintosh computers are available in a separate Seminar Room. The library provides students with a wealth of design-related information and publications. The library's collection includes specialist materials, photo collections, and design annuals, as well as valuable research data on traditional Japanese crafts and housing. The library also stocks the latest technical journals on graphics and 3DCG and subscribes to a broad selection of other periodicals. It also provides facilities for viewing videos, DVDs, and laserdiscs and accessing the Internet. The area from the main entrance through the courtyard serves as the institute's entrance hall. Particularly striking is the contrast between the windows' bright illumination and the dark areas toward the ceiling. Illuminated by bright light pouring through plate-glass windows, the hallway leading from next to the restaurant entrance to the studio block also functions as a gallery. The walls of the hallway are typically lined with students' works. The NID Hall is a multi-purpose hall used for various club activities, campus festivals, and exhibitions by graduating students. Light enters from the sides of the building between rows of columns that form an enormous gateway. The light accentuates the sense of order and horizontal structure created by these structures, lending the entire hall a somewhat austere atmosphere. The two-story atrium gives the restaurant a spacious, open feel. DPG technology has been used in the plate-glass windows that extend from floor to ceiling, which provide a magnificent panoramic view that extends from the garden to Mount Higashiyama. Students are in a pleasant mood at lunchtime, some with half-completed work in hand, fill the restaurant. Facing west on the second floor of the studio block, the Spatial Design and Environmental Conservation studios are usually littered with half-completed class projects and model-making materials. Students often work late into the night. Students use architectural models of famous temple buildings, such as the Jodoji Jododo, the Shofukuji Jizodo, and the Toshodaiji Kondo, to learn about the restoration of old buildings. With a seating capacity of 250, the Great Lecture Hall is used for lecture meetings and other events, and regular classes. A glass curtain wall surrounds the building on three sides to allow in as much natural light as possible, creating a bright, vibrant space. State-of-the-art AV equipment enables the projection of videos, laserdiscs, and slides onto a screen at the hall's front. View full university