Special Program of “Engineering Science 21st Century”

Master’s/Doctoral Courses in English

Contents of Study

The Graduate School of Engineering Science aims to acquire a strong international reputation through
increased exchange of students and researchers, and in joint research projects.
For this objective, the Graduate School of Engineering Science has decided to offer a new interdisciplinary
program in which all lectures, as well as all instructions and supervision in research-related activities and
seminars, are given in English. The students are not required to learn Japanese to join this program. In this
program, globally recognized and highly qualified graduates are expected to be educated under the guiding
principles of the Graduate School of Engineering Science which strives to integrate science and technology.

Outline and Features of the Program

1) The aim of this program is to develop human resources with high level, creative and flexible problem-
solving ability. This is achieved through multi- and interdisciplinary research training, seminars, and
lectures, given by prominent professors in their respective fields.

2) Students are guided and supervised in English.

3) Students can select one of the eleven “Divisions” of the Graduate School of Engineering Science (see Table
1), for their research study for a Master’s or Doctoral Degree. Students will be required to choose one
professor or associate professor as their supervisor.

4) The opportunity for an internship at a prominent Japanese company or research organization will be
provided, in order to increase the knowledge and experience of cutting edge technologies. This internship
will allow international students to become discerning and well-balanced scientists, with a deeper
understanding of Japanese society. The internship will also meet the requirements of those international
students who wish to have practical experience in industry.

5) The program also provides the opportunity to enhance interaction between Japanese and international
students. The program will improve the international awareness of Japanese students, as well as deepen
international students’ understanding of the Japanese society. This will also meet the demands of those
Japanese students who want to work in the global environment.

Course Requirements

1) Master’s Course students are required to obtain 30 credits, as given in Table 2. The list of lectures given
in English is shown in Table 3. Students can also have internship training at a Japanese company or
research organization.

2) Doctoral Course students are required to take “Research Training for Doctor's Thesis” and to obtain 12
credits, as in Table 4.
Table 1. Departments and Divisions of the Graduate School of Engineering Science

Department of Materials Engineering Science

Division of Materials Physics
Area of Electron Correlation Physics
Area of Quantum Physics of Nanoscale Materials
Area of Quantum Materials Physics
Division of Chemistry
Area of Synthetic Chemistry
Area of Molecular Organization Chemistry
Area of Solar Energy Chemistry
Division of Chemical Engineering
Area of Chemical Reaction Engineering
Area of Environment and Energy System
Area of Bioprocess Engineering
Area of Solar Energy Chemistry
Division of Frontier Materials Science
Area of Frontier Materials
Area of Dynamics of Nanoscale Materials
Area of Quantum Science in Extreme Conditions

Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering

Division of Nonlinear Mechanics
Area of Mechanics of Fluids and Thermo-fluids
Area of Mechanics of Solid Materials
Division of Mechanical Engineering
Area of Propulsion Engineering
Area of Mechano-informatics
Division of Bioengineering
Area of Biomechanical Science
Area of Biophysical Engineering
Area of Biomedical and Biophysical Measurements

Department of Systems Innovation

Division of Advanced Electronics and Optical Science
Area of Solid State Electronics
Area of Advanced Quantum Devices and Electronics
Area of Optical Electronics
Area of Advanced Electronics Under Extreme Conditions
Division of Systems Science and Applied Informatics
Area of System Theory
Area of Intelligent Systems
Division of Mathematical Science
Area of Mathematical Modelling
Area of Statistical Science
Division of Mathematical Science for Social Systems
Area of Mathematical and Statistical Finance
Area of Theoretical Systems Science
Table 2. Requirements for Master’s Course

Category Number of Credits

Lectures 18

SeminarⅠ～Ⅳ in each division 4

ResearchⅠ～Ⅳ in each division 8

Table 3. List of lectures of Master’s Course

○=Annual classes
* =Biennial classes
Lectures Credits
Solid State Spectroscopy 2(○)
Science and Engineering of Correlated Electron Materials 2(○)
Introduction to magnetism and spintronics 2(○)
Advanced magnetism and spintronics 2(○)
Properties of Materials 2(○)
Advanced Physical Chemistry 2(○)
Advanced Organic Chemistry 2(○)
Advanced Chemistry for Material Science 2(○)
Bio-Inspired Chemical Engineering 2(○)
Molecular Nanotechnology 2(○)
Theoretical Materials Science 2(○)
Photophysics of Nanoscale Materials 2(○)
Frontier of Nano-scale Materials 2(○)
International Exchange Lecture on Nanoscience and Nanoengineering A 1(○)
International Exchange Lecture on Nanoscience and Nanoengineering B 1(○)
International Exchange Lecture on Nanoscience and Nanoengineering C 1(○)
Turbulence Dynamics 2(*)
Viscous Fluid Mechanics 2(*)
Strength of Structure 2(*)
Ultrasonic Techniques 2(*)
Topics in Multiphase Flow Engineering 2(*)
Topics on Robotics 2(*)
Stability Analysis of Dynamical Systems 2(*)
Advanced Theoretical Solid Mechanics 2(*)
Advanced Computational Mechanics 2(*)
Theory of Optimum Design and Synthesis 2(*)
Biological System Engineering 2(*)
Biomechanism 2(*)
Quantum Information Science 2(*)
 Lectures Credits
Advanced Optoelectronics 2(○)
Systems and Control Theory 2(*)
Adaptive Systems Theory 2(*)
Signal Analysis Theory 2(*)
Theory of Systems Analysis 2(*)
Applied Robotics 2(*)
Intelligent Robotics 2(*)
Mixed Reality Systems 2(*)
Advanced Robot Systems 2(*)
Imaging Systems 2(*)
Database Systems 2(*)
Communication Robot 2(*)
Topics in Mathematical Sciences Ⅰ 2(*)
Topics in Mathematical Sciences Ⅱ 2(*)
Topics in Mathematical Statistics Ⅰ 2(*)
Topics in Mathematical Statistics Ⅱ 2(*)
Data Science and Case Studies I 2(○)
Nonlinear System Theory 2(○)
Systems Optimization and Analysis 2(*)
Intelligent Mathematical Programming System 2(*)
Introduction to Engineering Science 2(○)
Material Process Engineering 2(*)
Bioreaction Engineering 2(*)
Biomechanical Engineering 2(*)
Biomedical Simulation and Measurement 2(*)
Medical Information Technology 2(*)
Solid State Devices 2(○)
Opto- and Quantum Electronics 2(○)
Advanced Mathematical Science A 2(○)
Advanced Mathematical Science B 2(○)
Advanced Mathematical Science C 2(○)
Engineering Science Research Internship 2(○)

Table 4. Requirements for Doctoral Course

Category Number of Credits

Research Training for Doctoral Thesis Nil

Advanced/Special ResearchⅠ～Ⅵ 12
 Engineering Science 21st Century
Graduate School of Engineering Science
OSAKA UNIVERSITY

1. Osaka University and the School/Graduate School of Engineering Science

Osaka University was established as a national university in 1931, as Osaka Imperial University. Although
founded relatively late among the seven other Imperial Universities, Osaka University draws upon an
academic tradition which arose between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries when Osaka was the
economic center of Japan.
The University has grown rapidly in these 87 years, not only in size but also in terms of its contribution to
the scholarly community. It now encompasses, in addition to its 11 undergraduate schools (Letters, Human
Sciences, Foreign Studies, Law, Economics, Science, Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Engineering, and Engineering Science), 16 graduate schools, and 5 research institutions. It has three major
campuses in Suita, Toyonaka, and Minoh, and the University has an enrollment of some 23,371 students
and 6,445 staff.
The School of Engineering Science was established in 1961 to develop scientists and engineers with a keen
interest in practical technology, and who have a firm grasp of the basic sciences. These graduates will use
this expertise to develop new technology. At present, the Graduate School of Engineering Science contains
188 teaching staff, 50 technical and administrative staff, about 1,937 undergraduate students, 576 Master’s
course students and 144 Doctoral students. There are 10 undergraduate courses across four departments,
and 11 postgraduate divisions across three departments.

2. Engineering Science - Past and Present

Because the School of Engineering Science was established with a mixed teaching staff from the School of
Engineering and the School of Science, it has a special feature in the educational and research activities:
providing students with scientific approaches for solving practical engineering problems and carrying out
research in the multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary areas. When established, this school created new
research areas and eventually established the departments of information technology and bioengineering.
The concept of “Engineering Science” was first proposed in the USA soon after the launch of Sputnik, to
catch up with the Soviet space technology program by modernizing engineering education.
The engineering education at the time was carried out in individual departments without any connection
to other departments. For this reason many small departments, such as the department for aeronautics,
ship building, textile and mining machines, machine tools, etc., were teaching specific technologies that were
solely related to each field. This teaching system functioned well within each specific field, but the system
could hardly cope with new technologies such as space engineering that required multi-disciplinary
expertise.
In the education of engineering science, the basic scientific knowledge from many departments, such as
hydrodynamics and solid mechanics, electronics, chemistry, and material science are taught. For example,
students studying hydrodynamics should then be able to apply this to a range of engineering fields; e.g. air
flow in designing the wings of airplanes, the optimum shape of ships in order to reduce wave resistance, and
water flow in the pipes of a power generator, etc.
Since the results of scientific research had already been the essential subjects of engineering education at
the time, this new method of teaching was smoothly implemented in United States universities from the
beginning of the 1960’s, and spread very quickly.
Around this time (i.e. at the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960’s), the Japanese industry was
just recovering from its collapse after World War II, and the government wanted to increase the number of
engineers for future industrialization of the country. The number of students in the engineering
departments was increasing rapidly. Instead of increasing the number of the students in engineering
departments, Osaka University decided to launch the “School of Engineering Science.”
The School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, mostly teaches common fields in engineering. The
students are recommended to attend many lectures in other departments in order to expand their views,
and comparatively large amounts of teaching time are allocated to mathematics.
The idea of engineering science, in which common engineering subjects are taught mainly with scientific
methodology, fit well with the Japanese situation at the time of rapid economic growth when many new
engineering areas were being introduced, and the areas of engineering work were expanding. Unlike Osaka
University, many Japanese universities employed the teaching method of engineering science, but they did
not establish any special school for it.

3. Globalization and Engineering Education

Around 1990, when the cold war suddenly ended, the U.S. industry began desiring to manufacture
consumer products more seriously, and the military funding going to university research was reduced. While
the U.S. industry lagged in the production of consumer goods, the Japanese industry and universities had
already begun to concentrate on consumer goods such as automobiles, electronic products, and computers.
The reason that the U.S. manufacturing industry was not functioning as well as the Japanese industry was
attributed to the quality of engineering education: the U.S. lacked practical engineering ability and
teamwork. Engineering education in America was subjected to criticism from the industry because many of
the university graduates could not cope with their technological field and lacked the methodology for solving
practical problems.
Some U.S. universities adopted the “Design First” method, in which the students are first given practical
problems such as designing a machine with a prescribed function. Through practice, they are expected to
recognize the necessary component by themselves with the aid of computer software such as CAD. At the
same time they are taught engineering ethics, teamwork, presentation, etc., which are important skills for
leading engineers.
This movement was accelerated by the development of accreditation systems of engineering education, in
which education mostly aimed at enhancing ability and skill for practical activities of engineers is evaluated.
The accreditation system, which has a long history in the European engineers’ societies, was employed as
ABET in the USA. The “Design First” movement was accelerated still more by the Washington Accord, in
which the accreditation systems of member countries are recognized by each other. This is especially
important in the environment of international joint cooperation.
This change of engineering education had an impact to the Japanese universities. Major universities,
including Osaka University, began to study the new teaching method from the middle of the 1990s, and
reviewed their educational systems. In 1999, an accreditation system of engineering education, JABEE, was
introduced and began to evaluate the educational systems in engineering schools.

4. Review of Engineering Science

Since the new educational method, “Design First”, was introduced to change the trend of engineering science
education, the School of Engineering Science, more than anyone, stood to lose a great deal, if the concept of
engineering science was denied. In 1999, the School of Engineering Science created the “Committee of
Engineering Education Program”, and began to study the policy of the educational scheme. The following
represents the major results:
1) Demands from industry:
The unique educational policy of the School of Engineering Science has been welcomed by the Japanese
industries and the academic societies, and many graduates from this school occupy important positions in
Japanese industries. It is concluded that the concept of engineering science has not lost its value. However,
around 1990, the globally extended economy and its new demands forced companies to rapidly adjust their
established practices. These demands have inevitably brought about some changes in education in the
School of Engineering Science.
 Japanese industries are becoming more R/D oriented and the demands for graduates with higher ability
of research and development are increasing. Thus the graduate school should be ready to educate high
level engineers who will be in charge of the development of new products in their industries, instead of
just research in academic institutions.
 English has been taught as the first non-native language in Japan for a long time. When Japan was
introducing western technologies, it was natural to give an emphasis to reading of foreign literature in
engineering education. In the global circumstances, however, engineers and researchers are required
to present their own results to the world. Thus, skills in English conversation and writing should be
taught more intensively in the undergraduate courses.
These changes will also benefit the international students who have the same demands from their
industries, which are now becoming more R/D oriented.
2) Students awareness about engineering subjects:
In some countries, like Germany, new students entering the technical universities have some knowledge of
industry because they have already experienced training in the industry for some months, and understand
the outline engineering work. However, in many other countries, including Japan, students are not taught
enough about the future jobs, mainly because high school teachers do not have such knowledge. Thus the
students tend to choose the universities and departments by name value, which is often related to the age
and the tradition of the university.
Due to this background, Japanese students are not well aware of the importance of each subject that they
are going to study, and they are often blamed by people who have worked in industries for lacking awareness
of their field. This may be true, but blaming the students will not change the situation. It is the role of a
university to give the students enough opportunity to know about the jobs and the relationship between the
subjects and real engineer’s work.
Accordingly, the Committee of Engineering Education Program decided to open a new subject, “PBL =
Problem Based Learning”, and introduced it in the early stages of each undergraduate course.
3) Effects of development of information technology
The changes caused by the rapid development of information technology are having great impact on the
Japanese society and university education. Since the School of Engineering Science has contained a
department of information science from its early stage, education of information technology has been carried
out in all undergraduate courses. It is important to provide the students with sufficient facilities for using
computers and the Internet. Although offering courses online is not being seriously considered at the
moment, it may be an option presented for the convenience of international students in the near future.

5. Engineering Science -Future-

In the year 2000, Osaka University established new graduate schools for ”Information Science and
Technology”, and “Frontier Bioscience” without undergraduate courses. About a quarter of the faculty
members moved to the new graduate schools from the Graduate School of Engineering Science. The faculty
members of the Graduate School of Engineering Science and those of the new graduate schools cooperate to
teach students in the undergraduate courses of Engineering Science.
The Graduate School of Engineering Science began to make a “Grand Plan” for the school to establish a new
identity of the School of Engineering Science. The grand plan was then used to make a concrete plan to form
the new schools. The essential directions of the schools are as follows:
1) Undergraduate courses: The undergraduate courses have only had minimal change, because the
principles of engineering science will continue to be valid in the future. To include the education for
engineering skill and to improve the motivation of the new students, the PBL subjects will be presented in
the early stages of undergraduate courses. To cater for globalization, some subjects on English writing and
presentation will be included, by employing teachers whose native tongue is English. The skills of
presentation and teamwork will be enforced in the “graduate thesis study” during the final year.
2) Postgraduate courses: The new Graduate School of Engineering Science has three departments: a
department dealing with physical and chemical materials from a unified viewpoint of materials science, a
department dealing with mechanical science and bioengineering from the viewpoint of applied mechanics,
and a department dealing with electronics, systems and mathematics from the viewpoint of systems
innovation.
In the graduate school, a new program is planned in which all the lectures are to be given in English and
all students are to have practical experience in the industry, to better meet the requirement of the Japanese
students and international students who want to work in the global environment.
3) Research activity: The new target of the Graduate School of Engineering Science is to create new research
fields in multi- and inter-disciplinary areas. To help facilitate this, the school includes faculty members from
various backgrounds. Also, the “Multidisciplinary Research Laboratory System” was established to ensure
the gathering of researchers from different fields.

6. New English Program with Internship in Industry

Complying with the newly settled plan, the Graduate School of Engineering Science aims to acquire a strong
international reputation through increased exchange of students and researchers, and in joint research
project.
For this objective, the Graduate School of Engineering Science has decided to offer a new interdisciplinary
program in which all lectures, as well as all instructions and supervision in research-related activities and
seminars, are given in English. The students are not required to learn Japanese to join this program. In this
program, globally recognized highly qualified graduates are expected to be educated under the guiding
principles of the Graduate School of Engineering Science which strives to integrate science and engineering.
An overview of this program is shown in the figure below. The key features of this program are as follows:
1) The aim of this program is to develop high-level human resources and flexible problem-solving ability,
which is achieved through the multi- and inter-disciplinary lectures given by prominent professors in their
fields. Students can choose one of 3 departments;
(1) Dept. of Materials Engineering Science dealing with physical and chemical materials from a
viewpoint of material science.
(2) Dept. of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering dealing with mechanical science and bioengineering
from the viewpoint of applied mechanics.
(3) Dept. of Systems Innovation dealing with electronics, systems and mathematics from the viewpoint
of systems innovation.
Students can also select one of 11 Divisions for their research study for a Master’s or a Doctoral degree.
2) An opportunity for internship training at a prominent Japanese company will be provided in order to
increase the student’s knowledge and experience of cutting-edge technologies, allowing them to become
discerning and well-balanced scientists or technologists, with a deeper understanding of Japanese society.
This will also meet the requirements of those international students who wish to have practical experience
in industry.
3) The program also provides the opportunity to enhance interaction between Japanese and international
students. The program will improve the international awareness of Japanese students, as well as deepen
international students’ understanding of the Japanese society. This will also meet the demands of those
Japanese students who want to work in the global environment.
4) Students are guided and supervised in English so that they can achieve an academic degree within a
given period; two years for a Master’s degree and three years for a Doctoral degree. Outstanding students
may have their degree conferred in less than the given period.

Special Program of “Engineering Science 21st Century” in English

Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University

Master’s Course, 1st term Doctoral Course, 2nd term

Lecture in English
・Three subject-based courses in English Engineer with research and Researcher with unique and
・Interdisciplinary common courses in English planning ability practical ability
・Japanese students also accepted. ・Short-term grounding of ・Research supervision in English
basic specialty in English ・Attending international conferences
・Internship for practice ・Co-research with companies
・Wider knowledge by
interdisciplinary basic education. Next stage

Internship Interdisciplinary basic education M. Eng.

Overseas Applicant screening:
・1-3 months at a company
・Cross-Labs. basic education
No need to take examination
・Understanding of high industrial Return to
・ Combined with experiments and
in Japan
technology
information processing find a job

Issues of concern for international students Beneficial Effects

・Entrance exam. in Japan is a burden. ・Greatly reduced burden for international

Special Program in students
・Learning Japanese is time-consuming.
English ・Enhanced internationalization of Japanese
・Attractive, high industrial technologies
・Preparation in English is common. students.
・Excellent Asian students attending.