ALPS

The Advanced Leading Graduate Course for Photon Science (ALPS) is part of the MEXT "Program for Leading Graduate Schools" which aims to "revolutionize graduate school education by developing world-class, quality-controlled academic degree programs, where learning is achieved with no walls limiting academia away from industrial and governmental sectors, and with coherency between the Master's and Doctoral programs, in order to turn competent students into perceptive and creative global leaders in all realms of industry, academia and government." *)

The ALPS course is provided through the joint efforts of the Graduate School of Science and the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. It is a graduate course whose objective is to foster Doctors of Philosophy with wide-ranging interdisciplinary viewpoints and the ability to apply their knowledge, by mobilizing several cutting-edge research fields of fundamental science, speared together by one common theme: frontier photon science. We seek to provide the industrial academic and governmental arenas with doctoral graduates who possess the following leadership qualities:

Industrial:

Those who drive forward a stronger industry by paving the way for global and open-ended innovations

Academic:

Those who lead the creation of new knowledge and the exploration of integrated research fields

Governmental:

Those who use their sophistication in science and technology to take charge of policies addressing challenges that we face as a whole human society

The field of frontier photon science, characterized by its fundamental, innovative, and transverse nature, holds a great potential not only in the realm of fundamental science but also in technologies for social infrastructure. In recognizing this strength, ALPS offers an education program that takes away the boundaries of specific research fields such as physics, chemistry, or biology, so that students can achieve specialized fundamental training in areas beyond their respective fields, as well as cultivate comprehensive methods for innovation and task-based application of knowledge. With the cooperation of industries relating to photon science, we also prepare a liaison platform of academic-industrial education, whereby topics of frontier photon science are taught through coursework (both lectures and laboratory sessions) integrating fundamental and applied science fields. This interdisciplinary learning environment will give students from various disciplines a high level of specialization, a flexible, creative viewpoint that allows them to cross research field boundaries, and effective leadership abilities.

By setting up this program, we hope to establish a new learning environment to prepare competent students for their global futures as doctoral graduates in not only academic but also industrial and governmental careers.