Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST)

OIST is one of the boldest initiatives in global research and education of the 21st century. From the outset, we have pursued high ambitions to become established as one of the world’s great scientific research universities. The Japanese Government tasked us with a clear vision to create an international, interdisciplinary university producing new discoveries, breakthrough innovation, and future leaders for a rapidly changing world and workplace. To succeed, we have to hire the best people in the world. Ultimately the reputation of a university is created by the excellence of its faculty, its students, and its staff and management. Our professors form research units that are reasonably small but which work in a larger context of support from the whole university. Here, researchers and graduate students have the opportunity and encouragement to establish multidisciplinary contacts and collaborations. Stable ‘high-trust’ funding, with periodic peer review by world-class experts, is the foundation for our success.

This website shows that OIST has succeeded in attracting top professors from all around the world to carry out top-level research in Japan. We are delivering outstanding graduate education, and attracting rising numbers of applications from talented students throughout Japan and more than fifty other nations. OIST takes pride in becoming a global asset for Japan, and a strong driver of sustainable development in Okinawa. I inherited fertile ground as OIST’s second president and am honored to have the opportunity to lead this extraordinary institution.