About Tenure Track Program
Creating a Mentor Researcher Cultivation System and Young Researcher Training System
Under the “Improvement of Independent Research Environment for Young Researchers Program” organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and supported by its 2010 Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology, Tokai University’s proposal of “Innovative Academic Promotional System in Private Schools Capable of Reproducing First-Rate Researchers” was accepted.
Tokai University is an educational institution that places emphasis on research, ranking fifth among Japan’s private universities in terms of the number of staff with a high frequency of research paper citations. This is evident particularly in the medical field, where we have produced international level research in genome science, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery model development, while we have cultivated professors under the “mentor” training model that we are proposing.
We recruit capable young researchers (Tenure Track Researchers) internationally, and manage and implement this program combining the university’s own “mentor” model and tenure track. Meanwhile, to provide research support for young researchers and carry out tenure track management, we have established the Institute of Innovative Science and Technology (IIST).
With the provision of laboratories belonging to the IIST, clerical and business support, research and technical support, initial equipment costs, and so on during the tenure track period, researchers are able to expand their own capabilities in an ideal research environment. In addition, the program offers the experience of overseas study (in the Medical Science Division).
During their tenure track period, researchers are exempted from their studies (or clinical duties) as the need arises and can obtain technical support related to their studies or research. After taking up a full-time position (post-tenure), they are attached to a faculty or graduate school where they are expected to play a central role as incentivized teaching staff in the system of training mentor researchers.
