1.Approach
① Educational Approach
With the cooperation of three universities, this three-year postgraduate program—the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences—aims to provide students with a deeper and up-to-date understanding of their fields of specialization. This postgraduate school fosters specialized knowledge, interdisciplinary perspectives, and flexible thinking skills through education encompassing all fields of agricultural science, including agriculture, forestry, animal science, fisheries, food science, life science, economics, business administration, and sociology, with a focus on food-producing areas in temperate and subtropical zones. The United Graduate School also aims to train university instructors and specialists for national, public, and private research institutes, contributing to the development of industries related to bioresources and marine resources.
② Research Approach
An important innovation in the United Graduate School system is the greater interaction between research departments of the respective universities.
Promoting better and closer communication between associated doctoral research areas is one of the purposes of the school. Closer relationships help to foster mutual cooperation among instructors, which at the same time stimulates research. This facilitates the organization of special project teams of instructors in the cooperating universities, and systemizes research work.
2.Research Guidance System
The School selects one advisory professor, two vice-advisory professors, and one assistant instructor for each student in accordance with students’ requests. This advisory system enhances the research activities of students.
3.Teaching Method for Research Work and Credit Acquisition
The students are each assigned to one university where their advisory professor works, and receive guidance for their doctoral degree from this professor. They also receive guidance from their vice-advisory professors belonging to the other universities.
The advisory professor will schedule the teaching curriculum for the student at the time of his/her admission, and will guide his/her studentship according to a scheduled curriculum in close communication with the vice-advisory professors and assistant instructors.
The students can use the facilities of the allied universities for their study.
Students must satisfactorily complete at least 12 credits.
Of the 12 credits, 10 must come from required subjects (Thesis Research = 6 credits, Data Analysis Exercises = 1 credit, Advanced lectures on Agriculture, Fisheries, and Life Sciences = 1 credit, Special seminar on Agricultural Sciences = 2 credits), at least one credit from elective compulsory
subjects designed to cultivate an interdisciplinary perspective on knowledge, as well as at least one credit in career development subjects.
Completion of the necessary credits constitutes the prerequisite for submission of the final thesis.
