Shimane University

The modern Shimane University was created in 2003 after a formation with the Medical University in the same Shimane region, on Honshu island in southern Japan. The main campus is in a coastal region near Matsue Castle, a medieval construct recognised as a national treasure of Japan in 2015. The interdisciplinary Faculty of Science and Engineering was created in 1995 through a redevelopment of the faculties of Science and Agriculture. Around 400 students start their further education at the faculty each year, in five departments from Material Science to Architecture and Product Design. Studying across subjects is a core ideal of the faculty, teaching students a variety of skills and introducing them to new ideas. There are 42 departments in the School of Medicine and three in the School of Nursing. Shimane offers a highly specialised degree in Rural Medical Education, teaching students about the unique challenges they may face in these environments, and working in conjunction with the variety of hospitals and medical centres operated by the university in Shimane prefecture. Since 2007, Shimane University has been at the forefront of innovative research into bone processing, creating autologous screws from a patient’s own bone fragments. Shimane has international exchange agreements with universities across the globe, for instance with nine institutions in the USA and eighteen in China. Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral programmes are open to overseas students at the faculty of Science and Engineering. Each winter a ski training program for international students is held on the volcanic Mt. Daisen, a two hour drive from Shimane.