Nagasaki University


Nagasaki University is a national university of Japan. Its nickname is Chōdai. The main campus is located in Bunkyo-machi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.

History

Nagasaki University was established in 1949 by incorporating several national institutions, namely, Nagasaki Medical College, Nagasaki College of Economics, Nagasaki Normal School, Nagasaki Youth Normal School and Nagasaki High School.
The new main campus was formerly a plant site of Mitsubishi Arms Factory.

Nagasaki Medical College

The oldest of the predecessors was Nagasaki Medical College. It was founded in November 1857 as Medical Training Institute by the branch office of Tokugawa Shogunate. The first professor was J. L. C. Pompe van Meerdervoort, and the institute was one of the first western-style medical schools in Japan. In 1861 the hospital was founded, and after Meiji Restoration the school became a public medical school. It was developed into Nagasaki Vocational School of Medicine in 1901, then into Nagasaki Medical College in 1923.
After Japan participated in the Pacific War, the medical college added several institutes for the war, such as Temporary College of Medicine and East Asia Research Institute of Endemics. On August 9, 1945 the college was heavily damaged by the atomic bomb, because it was located only 500 to 700 meters away from the hypocenter. Over 800 professors, students and medical workers were killed. The college was moved to Omura in September 1945, and then to Isahaya in 1946. The old campus was restored later in 1950, after the college was integrated into Nagasaki University.

Institute of Tropical Medicine

The Institute of Tropical Medicine was originally founded under Nagasaki Medical College to perform basic and applied studies on endemic diseases in East Asia. In 1949, the institute merged with other facilities to form Nagasaki University under the new ruling of the National School Establishment Law.
Since 1946, researchers at NUITM have conducted fundamental and applied studies on tropical and emerging diseases. This includes infectious disease epidemiology studies and vaccine and therapeutics development against infectious diseases. Researchers at NUITM have established several international research partnerships, including in Vietnam the Philippines, and Kenya, to study emerging and re-emerging diseases. The institute has research stations in Vietnam and Kenya, and of note, the field research conducted in Kenya has inspired a popular song, novel, and charity foundation, and has been featured in a film, The Lion Standing in the Wind.
As one of the world's leading institutes for training and research in tropical medicine and health care, it is stipulated as a Joint Usage/ Research Center under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to spear-head academic research, and is a member of the Japan Infectious Disease Research Consortium that includes Institute of Medical Science (Japan), Osaka University and Hokkaido University.
With over one hundred graduate students enrolled, NUITM carries out an extensive capacity strengthening program in counterpart countries, and collaborates with a large network of institutions in Africa, South America, and Asia through MEXT, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Official Development Assistance (Japan), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development and the WHO. The institute acts as a WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Reference of Tropical and Emerging Viral Diseases and as the WHO's reference laboratories, providing confirmatory testing for COVID-19. The institute also offers a Joint PhD Programme for Global Health as part of an academic partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the institute led the International Infectious Disease Consortium against COVID-19, an international research collaboration to develop countermeasures against the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
Researchers at NUITM, in collaboration with local public health institutes, initiated efforts in diagnosing SARS-CoV-2, including developing new diagnostic tools. Technology transfer and collaboration with Southeast Asian counterparts has shed light on how the disease spread in Japan and Southeast Asia.

Nagasaki College of Economics

Another notable predecessor was Nagasaki College of Economics. It was founded in March 1905 as Nagasaki Higher Commercial School. It was the fourth national commercial college in Japan, after Tokyo, Kobe and Yamaguchi, and aimed at educating students so that they could engage in business with China, Korea and Southeast Asia. In 1917 it added the Advanced Course for Trade, and the building for the course was built in 1919.
In 1944 it was renamed Nagasaki College of Economics. On August 9, 1945 although Nagasaki underwent the atomic bombing, the college buildings were protected by Mt. Kompira. Its campus has been used by the Faculty of Economics, Nagasaki University.

Undergraduate schools

;Bunkyo Campus
;Sakamoto Campus
;Katafuchi Campus
  • Faculty of Economics

Graduate schools

Research institutes

  • Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Collaboration and MoU with foreign universities and institutes

Controversy

In April 2019, Nagasaki University came under fire for banning smokers from their campus. This would prevent teachers from getting hired. Many smokers and non-smokers felt that the measure was discriminatory against smokers and their personal lives. Many also argued that smoking is not relevant to their employment.
Several people have filed lawsuits against the university for discrimination. However, no lawsuit has been currently settled.

Notable alumni