Urban Engineering at the University of Tokyo

The Department of Urban Engineering at the University of Tokyo is offering a 2 years master's program in Urban Engineering and Environmental Studies. The Department aims to give students a definite background as an expert in planning, design, and management of the urban community.

Program Overview

With rapid population growth and industrialization all over the world, more than half of the people live in cities. From inadequate infrastructure to the inequality of local living standards, various kinds of urban problems have been manifest, which would require complicated and delicate solutions that can be designed only by experts with wide scoping and deep thinking. 

Solving contemporary urban problems requires not only a deep, specialized knowledge of underlying core technologies but also a general understanding of the working mechanisms behind a wide range of interrelated factors. 

Furthermore, the capacity to solve these problems might go beyond a single specialist’s knowledge, making effective teamwork necessary to tackle issues from different perspectives.

The graduate program in Urban and Environmental Studies provides a wide range of research and educational opportunities to learn these skills. The University expects that students will help develop the field of urban engineering as it strives to enhance the future prosperity of our society.

Admission Requirements

The Department of Urban Engineering provides knowledge grounds to learn a various range of urban and environmental issues and to find solutions based upon its distinguished experience of professional education for five decades. 

The Department welcomes all the students who are intrigued by urban and environmental issues and eager to learn theories and applications of urban engineering.

Applicants for this Special English Graduate Program must satisfy all of the following primary eligibility requirements:

• A person who neither has Japanese nationality nor resides in Japan during the time from, the online application’s start date until its deadline, and
• A person with a linguistic skill level is required to take classes and receive research guidance in English.

Language Requirements and Standardized Test Scores

At least one of these test scores must be submitted with the application:

• TOEFL
• IELTS
• TOEIC
• Certificate of English as the Medium of Instruction
• GRE (General Test) (Recommended, but not mandatory)

Course Structure

The mission of this graduate program is to provide students with a profound basis to become experts in urban planning, design, and management. The program consists of 30 credits including the master thesis.

The programs offered at the Department of Urban Engineering are designed to help meet the widespread needs for specially-educated manpower in urban planning and environmental engineering. 

To fulfill a wide range of knowledge and skills required to become specialists in the field, the department offers an urban planning course and an environmental and sanitary engineering course. In both courses, a strong emphasis is placed on the studio and/or laboratory and experimental works in association with group discussions.

Urban Planning Course

The course aims to train the students for physical planners who have a comprehensive knowledge and an ability in various engineering fields required for urban planning such as civil engineering, architecture, building science, environmental engineering, social science, and data analysis. 

Intensive studio works are provided in which the students learn how to design building complexes, individual communities, and regions. The studio works include a collection of urban data, analysis of the collected data, projections of urban structures, and construction of physical models.

Urban Environmental Engineering Course

Environmental engineers are responsible for controlling and managing water, air, solid waste, and land resources and for preserving the quality of urban environments. 

The students in the course take studio works such as design of water or wastewater treatment plants and environmental protection, and laboratory research such as water quality analysis, field survey for environmental pollution control, and experiments of hydrodynamics and water treatment.

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees for international students registered at the Graduate Program for Urban and Environmental Studies (UBE-UPN/ENV) are as follow:

• Admission fee: USD $2,448
• Tuition fee (annual): USD $4,649
• Examination fee (1st stage): USD $260

Scholarships

There are some scholarships awarded directly by the University of Tokyo to support the study of international students in Japan.

University of Tokyo Fellowship

The University of Tokyo Special Scholarship for International Students or the University of Tokyo Fellowship was established in 2004 aiming at "providing a research grant to high-achieving, postgraduate international students who are privately-funded to assist their academic pursuits at the university and at promoting a greater acceptance of excellent students from overseas."

Recipients will receive a monthly research grant of USD $1,735 or $1,302 during the standard period of their program (up to one year for research students).

Other Financial Support programs

The University of Tokyo also offers other types of financial support like the following:

• SEUT Grant for International Students sponsored by the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo
• Private Organizations’ Scholarships recommended through the Graduate School of Engineering
• Asian Development Bank (ADB) -Japan Scholarship with a recommendation from the Department of Urban Engineering 
• JICA ‘Innovative Asia’ / Scholarship to Japan