COE Programs

Global COE (Centers of Excellence) Program

Based on the evaluation of the 21st Century COE Program started in 2001 and building upon its basic ideas, the Global COE Program was established. This program aims (1) to increase the competitiveness of universities by targeting support to internationally outstanding institutions--often referred to as "bases"--in order to further improve and strengthen the education and research functions at Japan's graduate schools and (2) to nurture creative individuals to lead the world at the world's best fundamental research institutions.
In the case of Osaka University, 7 projects in all 5 fields were selected in 2007-2008, 4 projects in 4 fields in 2008-2009, and one in 2009-2010.
For details, click in the appropriate portion of the table below.

Program selected in 2009-2010
Field	Program title	Program Leader	Details of program
Interdisciplinary, combined fields, new disciplines	Center of Future Engineering based on Understanding of Cognitive Brain	Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro, Graduate School of Engineering Science

Programs selected in 2008-2009
Field	Program title	Program Leader	Details
Medicine	Frontier Biomedical Science Underlying Organelle Network Biology	Dr. Yoshihiro Yoneda,  Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences
Math, physics, geoscience	Core Research and Engineering of Advanced Materials--Interdisciplinary Education Center for Materials Science	Dr. Yoshio Kitaoka, Graduate School of Engineering Science
Machine, civil-engineering, architecture, and other engineering	Center of Excellence for Atomically Controlled Fabrication Technology	Dr. Kazuto Yamauchi, Graduate School of Engineering
Sociology	Human Behavior and Socioeconomic Dynamics	Dr. Fumio Otake, Institute of Social and Economic Research

Programs selected in 2007-2008
Field	Program title	Program Leader	Details of program
Life Sciences	System Dynamics of Biological Functions	Dr. Toshio Yanagida, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences
Chemistry, material sciences	Global Education and Research Center for Bio-Environmental Chemistry	Dr. Shunichi Fukuzumi, Graduate School of Engineering
	Center of Excellence for Advanced Structural and Functional Materials Design	Dr. Tomoyuki Kakeshita, Graduate School of Engineering
Information, electricity and electronics	Center of Excellence for Founding Ambient Information Society Infrastructure	Dr. Masayuki Murata, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology
	Center for Electronic Device Innovation	Dr. Kenji Taniguchi, Graduate School of Engineering
Humanities	A Research Base for Conflict Studies in the Humanities	Dr. Junji Koizumi, Vice President, Graduate School of Human Sciences
Interdisciplinary, combined fields, new disciplines	A center of excellence for an in silico medicine-oriented worldwide open platform	Dr. Taishin Nomura, The Center for Advanced Medical Engineering and Informatics

■The 21st Century Center of Excellence Program

The 21st Century Center Of Excellence Program was started by the Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2002. This program aims at establishing internationally competitive universities in Japan, specifically by targeting support for such universities in order to form outstanding global bases for the further improvement and strengthening of graduate schools as education and research institutes, institutes which will nurture creative leaders for the world.

Regarding Osaka University, 15 projects have been selected since 2002.
For details, click in the appropriate portion of the table below.

Program selected in 2004-2005
Field	Program title	Program Leader	Details
Innovative academic field	Center for Integrated Cell and Tissue Regulation	Dr. Toru Nakano, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences