June 15, 2009

It was recently announced that Waseda University was selected as a recipient of the Global COE Program Grant for 2009. (Announcements are posted on both Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) websites.)

Upholding the spirit of the principle mission of its precursor, the 21st Century COE Program, the Global Centers of Excellence Program (GCOE) serves to enrich and strengthen the educational and research opportunities of graduate school programs, as well as cultivate research talents who will become global leaders in their respective fields. By maintaining the highest research standards in the world, the GCOE Grant will provide concentrated support in the formation of an international center of education and research excellence. The original intention of this Program, which started in 2007, was to increase the international competitiveness of Japan's universities as a whole.

The Waseda University program indicated below was selected to receive a GCOE Grant under the designated research area, "Interdisciplinary, combined fields, and new disciplines."

Waseda University GCOE Selected in 2009

With the addition of the GCOE above, the number of Global COE Programs at Waseda numbers 8 in total (4 in 2007, 3 in 2008, 1 in 2009), placing Waseda University at the top of the ranks among private universities and sixth overall among both private and public universities.