Meet Nagoya University

Graduate School of Environmental Studies

 

Graduate School of Environmental Studies

Graduate Departments: 1.Earth and Environmental Sciences 2.Environmental Engineering and Architecture 3.Social and Human Environment

 

Today, the Earth's environment is facing a crisis. Ever-expanding human activities have been imposing intolerable burdens on the Earth and its various regions, disturbing the balance of the natural environment. Under these circumstances, it is extremely important for us to design the future of human beings with a view to the next 50 or 100 years.

Nagoya University Graduate School of Environmental Studies was established in 2001, providing the first interdisciplinary postgraduate course for environmental studies and education in Japan by integrating various disciplines fully ranging from natural sciences to engineering and social sciences. The course embraces two specific and unique cross-disciplinary visions as its central concepts - "Sustainability" and "Safety and Security". In accordance with these two central concepts, we engage in education and research while promoting collaboration with society.

When dealing with the environment, a key theme, we believe that human and cultural diversity will help to play a significant role. We conduct environmental studies that utilize a broad knowledge-based approach and the appropriate methodology, while increasing our specialized knowledge in the fields of natural science, engineering, arts and social sciences. We gain a better understanding of the current world situation through social and international collaborative exchanges. Our cross-disciplinary philosophy aims to interpret and connect the various, complicated elements of the world today and to capture the entire picture. This can be achieved by crossing conventional disciplinary borders and connecting together ideas from different countries, regions and people.

Aiming to realize a new human society in harmony with the global environment, the Graduate School of Environmental Studies embraces twin fundamental visions as its central concept. Within this framework, "Safety/Security" represents the static balance between natural and the built environments, while "Sustainability" represents their dynamic maintenance.

Hoping to play a major role in developing key strategies to avoid a fatal crisis for the global environment, Nagoya University Graduate School of Environmental Studies aims to pass on the human race's accumulated knowledge to the younger generation and cultivate human resources capable of making effective use of such knowledge for the future benefit of the Earth in centuries to come.