13 2.3 A Decade of Transformation: From the 20th to the 30th Anniversary 2.3.1 Establishment of National University Corporation Toyohashi University of Technology Around the year 2000, when the 20th century gave way to the 21st, two major waves of reform struck national universities across Japan: the plan to corporatize national universities, and the issue of university mergers. In April 2004, National University Corporation Toyohashi University of Technology officially began operations. At the same time, the Board of Directors, Management Council, and Education and Research Council, which were new central bodies established under the National University Corporation Act, as well as the University Management Council, which was a distinctive management body of this University, also began functioning. As indicated in On the New Image of National University Corporations, which set out the basic policy of the new system, the major differences between a national university corporation and the former system of national universities can be summarized in three points: a management structure centered on the president (and deans), participation of external members in university management, and flexible organizational arrangements and activities that make use of each university’s distinctive character. The University launched a management system that drew on these three new principles while retaining the University’s distinctive character. 2.3.2 New Strategies and the Establishment of Offices To strengthen the system supporting the president, nine assistants to the president were appointed. Six of them concurrently served as directors of six offices staffed jointly by faculty and administrative personnel— the Office of Goals and Evaluation, Office of Planning and Public Relations, Office of Research Strategy, Office of International Exchange, Office of Regional Collaboration, and Office of Collaboration with Colleges of Technology—in order to undertake strategic tasks deemed necessary by the president. The remaining three assistants to the president were responsible for the University’s future planning, including reorganization and integration. The Office of Goals and Evaluation developed a database on faculty achievements and other information, thereby establishing a basis for organizational and individual self-evaluation. The Office of Planning and Public Relations developed systems for information disclosure and dissemination, including the renewal of the University’s website. Measures introduced by the Office of Research Strategy to obtain external funding quickly led to more applications and successful funding awards. The Office of International Exchange began developing exchange bases, including the placement of an international collaboration coordinator at Institut Teknologi Bandung. The Office of Regional Collaboration launched a number of collaborative initiatives, such as the Science Partnership Program with Jishukan High School, while the Office of Collaboration with Colleges of Technology also started multiple programs and projects, including exchange meetings with alumni serving as faculty members and collaborative research with Colleges of Technology. 2.3.3 Educational Structure in the 30th Year After the Founding Faculty members belonged to divisions corresponding to the undergraduate programs and master’s majors in Mechanical Systems Engineering, Production Systems Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Civil Engineering, KnowledgeBased Information Engineering, and Ecology Engineering and are responsible for education without being constrained by the framework of traditional departments. In the doctoral program, faculty members belong to four majors—Mechanical and Structural Systems Engineering, Functional Materials Engineering, Electronics and Information Engineering, and Environmental and Life Engineering—and are responsible for doctoral education. Faculty members in the Division of Humanities and Social Engineering are responsible for liberal arts and humanities education throughout the University. In addition to the existing Academic Affairs Committee, which is responsible for implementing general educational matters such as curriculum and course registration, an Educational System Committee was established to plan and formulate policies related to the educational system. Furthermore, in order to improve the educational and research structure of the doctoral program, a Doctoral Program Committee and a Doctoral Major Management Committee were established.
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