The Institute of Science Tokyo was inaugurated on Tuesday as a new university created by the merger of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
"We aim to be one of the world's top science universities," the new university's chief executive officer, Naoto Otake, said at a news conference at one of its campuses in Tokyo's Meguro Ward.
Otake, who hails from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, reiterated the new university's intention to apply for the government's financial support program for universities of international research excellence.
Chief Academic Officer Yujiro Tanaka, from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, recalled "a number of challenges" for the merger as the two predecessors had different cultures. "But we shared a goal of reaching higher levels," Tanaka said.
The Institute of Science Tokyo is the first Japanese national university to have both CEO and CAO posts.
Despite the country's declining population, Tanaka said that the number of people who want to study again is expected to increase. "We aim to be a university that is open (to these people)," he said.
The new university has 6,242 undergraduates and 7,116 postgraduates. Of them, 2,145 are foreign students.
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