TGU-GIGAKU – Top Global University project: The GIGAKU education program for innovative global engineers
The GIGAKU education program for innovative global engineers (TGU-GIGAKU) is part of the Top Global University (TGU) project of the Ministry of Education, Sports, Culture, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT). The TGU-GIGAKU project aims to develop an integrated global campus with branches in many countries, including Mexico, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Chile, Romania and Spain, all generating collaborations among industry, academia, and government.
GIGAKU is a term introduced to define the basic philosophy of the Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) since the time of its foundation. The GIGAKU Education and Research Model has been designed to attract the world’s attention from overseas strategic regions. The global educational environment that has been established through GIGAKU is indispensable for training students who will be practical engineers that create innovation in the new global fields.
TGU-GIGAKU aims to develop an innovative global engineering education based on a strong network among world-leading, next-generation strategic regions. Its ten-year implementation plan is based on the following pillars:
- Promoting the GIGAKU Education and Research Model at next-generation strategic regions through the establishment of the «GIGAKU Education and Research Network».
- Promoting the Industry-Academia Cooperation Model at overseas strategic regions through the establishment of the «GIGAKU TechnoPark Network».
- Promoting world-leading technical research that meets the demands of global society.
The following activities are currently being implemented within the framework of TGU-GIGAKU:
- In order to develop GIGAKU education and research programs for cultivating practical engineers worldwide, we are implementing a variety of collaboration programs for undergraduate to doctoral students with overseas-based institutions and companies.
- We aim to construct an integrated global campus at each strategic area by combining industry-academia-government cooperation projects and the GIGAKU practical education through the GIGAKU TechnoPark Network, which is being developed globally.
- Utilizing the Industry-Academia collaborative research, we are proceeding with the investigation of domestic and international enterprise profiles and technological innovation. We aim to achieve industrial innovation by global joint research with enterprises.
- Using the overseas Jitsumu-Kunren (long-term internship) and the GIGAKU TechnoPark Network, we can offer innovation experiences at overseas to students in each stage: KOSEN (National Institute of Technology), undergraduate (Jitsumu-Kunren), and graduate course (research exchange).
- We are promoting the international exchange of students by implementing various types of cooperation programs, including twinning programs, double degree programs, and so on.
- In order to implement all these international collaborative programs, we have established offices at eight strategically-chosen, overseas-based regions in six countries: Mexico, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Spain/Basque Country.
Start date: March 2015 End Date: March 2025
Programme: Top Global University
Coordinators: Prof. Yoshiki Mikami and Prof. Nobuhiko Azuma (Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan)
Partners in the consortium (overseas office):
- University of Guanajuato (Mexico)
- Mongolian University of Science and Technology (Mongolia)
- Hanoi University of Science and Technology (Vietnam)
- Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
- Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia)
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras (India)
- Romanian-American University (Romania)
- Babes-Bolyai University (Romania)
- Deusto University (Spain)
- Mondragon University (Spain)
- BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change (Spain)
Key people involved in BC3:
Website: https://tgu.mext.go.jp/en/universities/nagaokaut/index.html