Leaping from Yamagata onto the world stage.
Fostering next generation of global leaders. Innovative Flex Course for Frontier Organic Material Systems （iFront）, Yamagata University

The iFront program is also characterized by its partnerships with corporations, under which corporate businesspersons are invited as visiting professors to engage in university-industry collaboration. Dr. Miyabo is also among the visiting professors.

According to Dr. Higashihara, “At the iFront enrollment examination, we always have visiting professors on our team of interviewers so that they can apply their business insight to discern whether an applicant has the inherent quality required to establish themselves on the international scene. Furthermore, the professors have also started to serve as corporate mentors for students. They are all very enthusiastic, and their contribution to student education is significant.”

Vice President and Director, ARKEMA K.K.
Dr. Atsushi Miyabo

Dr. Miyabo of ARKEMA said that during his business trip to Germany, he spent his day off visiting three internship students there. “Corporations play an imperative role in fostering globally minded people,” he says. “When I was a student, there was no such program as this one. If there had been, I certainly would have enrolled in it. It is a matter of course for companies to cooperate with these initiatives.”

Students who successfully clear the entire curriculum and have their degree thesis approved are finally granted their doctoral degree along with certification that they have completed the iFront graduate school.

Becoming leaders who can contribute anywhere in the world

Yamagata University's Faculty of Engineering is widely known within and outside Japan as a research site for organic electronics. The university established the iFront, an only-one type program focusing exclusively on organic materials, by building on this well-established foundation, which is partly why the program receives high acclaim. The MEXT's Program for Leading Graduate Schools is offered for a limited period of seven years, which means that the iFront will be terminated in 2019. However, the university has decided to continue running and expanding the program in its own way, and is already preparing to win a subsidy for a successor program.

“The faculty certainly sees a clear difference between iFront students and those under previous programs, and iFront students are also showing a high level of satisfaction with the program. High anticipation is also held by industry,” Dr.Higashihara says. “We are determined to continue making all-out efforts to foster global leaders who aspire to pave their way toward the future,” he firmly declares. Dr. Miyabo also shows solid confidence, stating, “Students who have completed this program will become leaders who can contribute anywhere in the world. They will become much sought-after scientists and engineers.”

The day is not far when the next generation of global leaders fly their Yamagata nest and step onto the world stage.