By NAMI SUGIURA/ Staff Writer
December 17, 2022 at 07:00 JST
Top brass of Kumamoto University attend a news conference held in Kumamoto’s Chuo Ward on Nov. 30 to announce the establishment of a new division equivalent to a faculty. The university’s president, Hisao Ogawa, is second from left. (Nami Sugiura)
KUMAMOTO--Kumamoto University announced it will offer courses specializing in semiconductors to help restore Japan’s former reputation as a powerhouse in the field.
The university said it will establish new divisions in April 2024 to nurture talent in an industry that is now dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the global leader.
The Taiwanese company is now building a semiconductor factory in Kumamoto Prefecture.
“It is a once-in-a-century chance to establish a hub for semiconductor companies,” the university’s president, Hisao Ogawa, told a Nov. 30 news conference. “We plan to make use of this opportunity to contribute to chip development at an early stage.”
It is the first time for the university to establish a new division equivalent to a faculty since it was founded in 1949.
The division, tentatively called the School of Informatics, will have an enrollment capacity of 60.
Students will learn data science focusing on data analysis.
Lectures will be given by instructors from humanities and science courses.
Twenty students will be accepted for the Data Science Semiconductor course, while the Data Science General course will have a capacity of 40.
The primary purpose of the Data Science Semiconductor course is to provide training in production efficiency and quality control of semiconductors and related products.
The Data Science General course is aimed at preparing students to make use of data in other fields such as economic policy and health care.
A new program specializing in semiconductor devices, which will be equivalent to a department and become part of the Faculty of Engineering, is expected to have an enrollment capacity of 20. It is intended to train students in the production and development of semiconductors.
Each year, around 70 students pursue a career in the semiconductor industry after graduating from Kumamoto University.
The university aims to double that figure in 10 years.
The school said it opted not to refer to the new divisions as faculties or departments because the courses will span various fields of learning.
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