Kyushu University

Kyushu University (九州大学, Kyūshū Daigaku), abbreviated to Kyudai (九大, Kyūdai), is a public research university located in Fukuoka, Japan, on the island of Kyushu. Founded in 1911 as the fourth Imperial University in Japan, it has been recognised as a leading institution of higher education and research in Kyushu, Japan, and beyond. The history of the university began a few decades before its founding when the medical school of the Fukuoka Domain (福岡藩 Fukuoka han) was established in 1867, the final year of the Edo period. The school was reorganised as the Fukuoka Medical College of Kyoto Imperial University in 1903. It became independent as Kyushu Imperial University in 1911. In 1867, the Fukuoka Domain established a medical school called Sanshikan in Tenjin, Fukuoka. Although closed in 1872, its affiliated hospital continued operating and evolved over time. By 1879, it became part of the Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka Medical School, later continuing as the Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka Hospital. The push for an imperial university in Kyushu led to the establishment of Fukuoka Medical College in 1903 as a branch of Kyoto Imperial University. Financial challenges delayed further development until the Furukawa Zaibatsu's donation in 1906 facilitated the establishment of Kyushu Imperial University in 1911, with Kenjiro Yamakawa, former president of the University of Tokyo, as its first president. Kyushu University dates its medical faculty's founding to 1903 and the university's establishment to 1911. In 1947, it was renamed Kyushu University, and in 1949, it expanded by incorporating several local educational institutions.