Tohoku University seeks 500 researchers mainly from U.S.
Tohoku University President Teiji Tominaga announced on June 6 that the university will invest 30 billion yen ($209 million) over the next five years to recruit about 500 top researchers in Japan and from abroad.
The university aims to attract U.S. researchers affected by President Donald Trump's administration making significant cuts in research spending.
Professors at acclaimed universities in the United States earn several times more than professors at Japanese universities, making a large amount of money necessary for recruiting them.
Tohoku University in Sendai is the first institution to receive government funding through the Universities for International Research Excellence project. It intends to take advantage of the substantial financial resources.
The Universities for International Research Excellence project is a system where the government designates universities to support by providing them with money with the aim of enhancing the country's research capabilities.
Designated universities can receive money from the investment profits of a 10 trillion yen government fund for a maximum of 25 years.
Currently, Tohoku University is the only designated university for the project. It will receive a total of 15.4 billion yen in fiscal 2025.
According to Tohoku University's plan, it will not set a salary cap for researchers. It also aims to strengthen ties with U.S. universities, including plans to establish research labs for quantum technology and semiconductors, conduct joint research and use these labs as a base for recruiting researchers.
The university intends to recruit 100 researchers in fiscal 2025, including early-career researchers, by investing 2.2 billion yen.
In May, senior officials of the university visited the United States and held information sessions there. This resulted in offering positions to 36 researchers based overseas that included professionals in the United States as well as 25 researchers based in Japan.
'Researchers' social status is higher and they earn better pay overseas than in Japan,' Tominaga said at a news conference on June 6. 'Japanese national universities have historically paid little attention to working conditions for researchers. However, to gain sufficient capabilities to compete globally, we intend to shift our focus to investing in researchers.'
Other Japanese universities, such as the University of Osaka and Ritsumeikan University, have also announced plans to accept researchers from U.S. universities affected by the Trump administration's actions.
(The article was written by Takahiro Takenouchi and Fumio Masutani.)
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