The University of Tokyo to establish new faculty for first time in 70 years — Integrating academic and advanced knowledge with design

The University of Tokyo (President Teruo Fujii) announced on April4 that it will establish a new faculty called "UTokyo College of Design" in September 2027. The new faculty aims to form a creative learning environment that integrates design with the university's broad academic and advanced knowledge to nurture leaders who can transform society. This is the first new faculty to be established in 70 years since the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (1958). The university also launched a website (https://design.adm.u-tokyo.ac.jp/) on the same day.

Fujii stated, "The design to be practiced at the College of Design significantly expands the boundaries of design, combining the University of Tokyo's extensive academic knowledge with design to produce the next generation of changemakers. Students who come here will create their own visions and work to realize them. We want to create a learning environment where such endeavors are possible."

The new faculty will be housed in the Information Technology Center building on the Hongo Campus (Bunkyo City, Tokyo Prefecture), with an enrollment capacity of 100 students. It envisions a five-year bachelor's and master's program (utilizing an early completion system for the master's program for high-achieving students). All lectures will be conducted in English. The entrance examination will use a different method from conventional ones (to be announced in summer 2026 after approval of establishment) and is being designed to select excellent and diverse students from both Japan and abroad. First-year students will all live in dormitories, and fourth-year students will be required to participate in off-campus activities such as domestic and international internships for up to one year.

The university is also considering a system that would allow students from other universities to participate in the program. The faculty views design broadly—not just as industrial product design or artistic design, but as a wide-ranging concept that includes creating new values and systems, as well as creative processes aimed at solving social issues. It aims to nurture human resources who can achieve these goals by connecting and integrating the university's diverse academic knowledge through design.

Professor Miles Pennington (Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, the University of Tokyo) is expected to serve as the dean of the faculty. Pennington graduated from the Innovation Design Engineering Department at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in the UK in 1992. He established the design company Design Stream in the UK in 1997. He served as a lecturer at his alma mater from 2002 and held key positions including professor and department chair of the same department from 2008. In 2017, he became a professor at the Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo, and served as the director of DLX Design Lab (Design-Led X Platform). He has been in his current position since 2023.

In this faculty, students will aim to realize their own vision by combining necessary specialized knowledge from all faculties of the university. It emphasizes active learning and provides a student-centered learning environment. The first year will include lectures on diverse academic fields across the university and eight course workshops with practical training to learn the basics and skills of design. In the second and third years, a series of seminars related to social issues and design will be offered, with elective courses divided into five clusters that span diverse academic fields, along with opportunities to participate in practical activities aimed at acquiring skills focusing on actual social problems and new possibilities. The fourth year will include design projects through teamwork in parallel with off-campus activities, and the fifth year will feature individual design projects as a culmination of all previous work.

For the fifth-year individual projects, mentors will be assigned as usual, but students will not be given specific themes. Instead, students will independently execute projects while obtaining cooperation and opinions from diverse stakeholders, including other students and faculty members, culminating in a graduation exhibition. The faculty will also establish an open studio to provide opportunities for interaction with various people both inside and outside the university and an environment where students can learn from each other.

The faculty's motto will be "See the World Through Design. Then Change It."

Pennington said, "We want students to observe and understand the world, and by recognizing the challenges that exist there, gain insights into various issues around them and how they can tackle their solutions. We want them to use design as a tool." The faculty has already begun recruiting faculty members through international open calls.