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President
of Nagasaki University
Hiroshi
Saito
M.D., Ph.D.
President's Profile
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President’s Address at Entrance Ceremony of the Graduate School of International Health Development
April 8, 2008
Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am Hiroshi Saito, President of Nagasaki University.
On behalf of Nagasaki University, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude and bid all of you a most cordial welcome on your entrance to this University.
Like all national universities in Japan, Nagasaki University also became a national university corporation on April 1st, 2004. Nagasaki University started working on new “challenges” at that time and has continued to do so ever since.
Among our new “challenges”, the most strategic one for determining our future was the setting up of the Graduate School of International Health Development. After an elaborate preparation of three years, we have finally reached the opening of this much-awaited Graduate School.
Nagasaki University marks its 151st anniversary this year. The creation of this particular Graduate School indicates nothing other than the solid foundation that was mounted for the University’s future growth in the 21st century. You will be the very first students of this commemorative course. I believe that the 151-year history of Nagasaki University has in some way invited you personally to this program. Namely, you are the children of the 151-year history of Nagasaki University.
There are three distinguished characteristics of this Graduate School of International Health Development.
First of all, in addition to the outstanding research achievements in the past 20-some years in tropical medicine and international health, the University intends to educate personnel who will be internationally active in global cooperation, especially in healthcare. We are all keenly aware that the recent universal healthcare issues are becoming more diversified, complex, and involved. Thus, the University believes that it is urgent to foster international professionals who will become a bridge connecting the advancing countries where various problems of malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, emerging infectious diseases, and high mortality rate of mothers and children are actually happening and research institutions where scholarly investigations take place.
A second feature is the conferment of the Master of Public Heath (MPH) degree, Japan’s first such degree specializing in international health, on the people who have successfully completed the course. An MPH degree is highly valued among those who work in international healthcare. Having acquired the MPH degree proves that the holder is qualified to be a member of an international healthcare team.
Moreover, this program consists of high quality and extremely unique curricula in order to teach adequate knowledge and abilities suitable for MPH degree level work. This is the third characteristic: the program aims to lecture in a wide range of subjects, including social and cultural background and international economics, in an interdisciplinary and systematic manner in order to understand health issues not only in terms of healthcare itself but also in terms of poverty and development.
Therefore, the Graduate School of International Health Development will be an independent graduate school, without being linked to only one certain faculty but rather inviting experts from diverse areas to participate in teaching. This type of graduate school is totally new in Nagasaki University. It will also try out unique new measures such as an eight-month internship at overseas institutions in collaboration with our research hubs abroad, world-famous development-related international agencies, various NGOs, and research institutions.
Today, 11 people entered this new graduate school as the very first students. Our motto is that Nagasaki University is built in cooperation with students, faculty/administrative staff, and alumni. I invite you to lend your hand in creating the world’s greatest Graduate School of International Health Development.
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