History

Kyoto Imperial University was founded in June 1897; the Department of Electrical Engineering was established in June 1898 and started lectures in the following September. The Department of Electronic Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering II were launched in 1954 and 1961 respectively. A year after the establishment of the Department of Information Science in 1970, reorganization was launched within the framework of the three departments of Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, and Electrical Engineering II. Under a new national educational policy to provide a more systematic post-graduate education, the three departments were restructured into three departments of a graduate school of the university in 1995: the Department of Electrical Engineering, the Department of Electronic Physical Properties Engineering, and the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering. Faculty members were also transferred to the graduate schools. For undergraduate education, the three existing departments were integrated into the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and faculty members from the three departments of the graduate course and other related departments were assigned to provide comprehensive education on electrical and electronic engineering, from basic to specialized education. In 1998, most courses of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering were transferred to the newly launched Graduate School of Informatics. In 2003, the Department of Electronic Physical Properties Engineering was renamed, becoming the Department of Electronic Science and Engineering. At present, the two departments of Electrical Engineering and Electronic Science and Engineering in the Graduate School of Engineering have been systematically integrated into one education system. Each department consists of four core and dedicated courses, and each course covers one to three research areas.

Research institutes closely associated with electrical and electronic engineering include: the Ion Beam Engineering Experimental Laboratory (attached to the Faculty of Engineering) established in 1978; the Venture Business Laboratory founded in 1996; the Graduate School of Energy Science and the Institute of Advanced Energy established and reorganized in 1996; the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere established in 2004 by combining two organizations, the Wood Research Institute and the Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere; and the International Innovation Center launched in 2001.