SIT selects Dean Jun Yamada of the College of Engineering to serve as its president from April 2021

Next president to continue the current reform program to attain the goal of becoming a top-10 engineering university in Asia

Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT)selected Dr.Jun Yamada, dean of its College of Engineering, as its next president, effective April 2021, at a Board of Directors meeting on November 11. His term will be three years through March 2024.

Shibaura Institute of Technology’s Governance System: Entrusted to the President

Since March 2014, SIT has had a governance system, in which the Board of Directors entrusts the president to exercise some authority over personnel and budget-related affairs, so that he/she can exercise strong leadership and swiftly and properly carry out university reforms.

SIT abolished the presidential selection voting system involving faculty and staff members from the 2014 academic year. Under the current system, the SIT president is selected in the following manner. A presidential candidate selection committee, including councilors with academic career backgrounds, presents what type of a president SIT would like to have and accepts recommendations. The committee then interviews candidates who have received recommendations from five or 欧洲杯足彩app下载_欧洲杯下注平台-【直播*网站】 faculty and staff members and holds a meeting in which candidates give a speech outlining their intended policies and philosophy when at the helm of SIT to faculty and staff members. Following this, the committee surveys faculty and staff members to determine their preference before selecting and reporting on a presidential candidate or candidates to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors then selects the president. The vice presidents and deans of SIT’s colleges and graduate schools are recommended by the president and endorsed by the Board of Directors.

In the latest presidential selection process, the committee chaired by Hideo Watanabe, a SIT councilor with an academic career background and an outside director of Zensho Holdings Co., Ltd., selected a presidential candidate based on the results of the survey of faculty and staff members and other factors, and reported on such to the chairman of the Board of Directors on November 11. On the same day, the Board of Directors deliberated on the candidate and unanimously selected Yamada as the next president.

Taking on the current reform agenda, and undertakings going forward

At an October 7 meeting before faculty and staff members, Yamada said he would assume the basic management policies of SIT President Masato Murakami if selected as president. He stressed that he would tackle various issues and take measures to build up SIT with faculty and staff members and students, with the aim of enhancing student satisfaction from the perspective of a “University Administration Based on Faculty and Staff Partnership.” This perspective is one of five polices under the Centennial SIT Action initiative for achieving the goal of being considered one of the top 10 engineering universities in Asia in 2027, the centennial of SIT’s founding.

Yamada also introduced the following agenda, after he assumes the presidency in April 2021.

1) Research: Improving equipment and facilities to enhance SIT’s research prowess toward increasing the number of its cited research articles; and employing researchers with the aim of fostering young researchers.
2) Education: Introducing program-based education as well as integrated management of undergraduate colleges and graduate schools to allow seamless six-year education from freshmen to master’s students; conducting improvement work on aging facilities on Omiya Campus.
3) International outlook: Expanding the number of students SIT dispatches to overseas educational institutions for 欧洲杯足彩app下载_欧洲杯下注平台-【直播*网站】 than three months; promoting overseas study among young faculty members to internationalize the campus.
4) Diversity promotion: Respecting the opinions of others and “cultivating an organizational culture, in which students, as well as faculty and staff members can find better solutions based on sufficient communication,” in addition to current goals for diversity promotion.

Moreover, Yamada said he would consider steps to improve the SIT brand through discussions with parties concerned, including young faculty members.