Dean's Message
Strengthening Its Research and Education Capacities
April 2010
Dean Kuniaki Tanabe
The Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) was founded in April 2004 to offer a graduate school Master's Program (a professional degree program) for training experts in planning, implementing and evaluating public policy, with most of the students going on to a career in public service. This graduate school is a professional graduate school which was established with the aim of training policy professionals involved in a wide range of public policy challenges. The University of Tokyo has over the years cultivated many individuals involved in the planning and implementation of public policy in society. Many of those people have become leaders in their respective fields, but at the same time the abilities and qualities required of the leaders needed to support society are diversifying and changing substantially.
In this new era, expectations for individuals with advanced and specialized abilities are growing ever greater. All need to be able to appropriately identify the challenges society is facing, build and evaluate policies to overcome them, communicate the policies to the people, and form a consensus.
Since its inception, the Graduate School of Public Policy has established a reputation for training individuals to have the ability to devise and implement effective policies and systematic solutions. Furthermore, it is attempting to strengthen its research and education capacities through a continual process of review and revision.
Firstly, the graduate school is bolstering internationalization efforts. In fiscal year 2010, it will offer an international public policy program taught in English, and it is actively seeking enrollment from students overseas. In addition, it has launched a double degree program with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, the first double degree program at The University of Tokyo. It will work to deepen cooperation with other overseas graduate schools of public policy and build a center for international education.
Secondly, the graduate school aims to enhance exchanges between policy-makers and encourage cutting-edge research and education, through pursuit of external funding. It will also enhance advanced and practical research as well as education quality by launching sponsored seminars and seeking external support for joint research in areas such as international transportation, energy and the global environment, capital markets, ocean policy- not only within the university but also linked to a wide range of policy networks throughout society.
In this way, the Graduate School of Public Policy intends to continue to tackle the issues of internationalization and cooperation with society, while fulfilling its basic role of cultivating passionate leaders backed up by specialized knowledge. I hope students with enthusiasm and outstanding abilities will continue to enroll in our graduate school. Thank you very much.
Related Resources
- The Master of Public Policy, International Program (MPP/IP)
- The Graduate School of Public Policy has commenced a double degree program with the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy(2009-11-18)
- NUS - Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
- Research Unit / Endowed Chairs
- Dean's Message Archives