Characteristics of Education and Research
Organization of Faculty Members
The UGSAS is operated by the highly qualified academic staff of the participating Universities, Tottori, Shimane and Yamaguchi.
The academic staffs composed of are Professors, Associate Professors, Junior Associate Professors and Assistant Professors who are qualified as the major supervisors or associate supervisors for the Doctoral Course. In addition, research staffs at Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) participate as Invited Professors and Associate Professors of the UGSAS.
Academic Advisors
Each student is supervised by three Faculty members: one Professor or Associate Professor as a major supervisor (they must be listed in the table ‘List of Major Supervisors’) and two Professors or Associate Professors as associate supervisors.
Education
The coursework includes lectures and individual research conducted under the guidance of major and associate supervisors. All students are registered as students of Tottori University, but their coursework is mainly conducted in the graduate school of the major supervisor. In addition, students are able to use the facilities and equipment of the other two universities.
The educational system has changed from a seminar system to an academic credit system since FY 2008. A student must acquire at least 14 credits and pass the doctoral thesis review along with a final examination.
In order to attain a doctoral degree, the student is required to have two or more papers published in journals issued by professional societies (in the case of joint authorship, the student must be the first author) .
Core Subjects
Based on the concept for establishment of the UGSAS, the students should take Core Subjects to acquire not only general and comprehensive knowledge of agricultural sciences but also deepen their knowledge in related field.
Core Subject consists of (1) Comprehensive Agricultural Science, (2) Advanced Subjects on each four doctoral Courses and (3) Academic Communication Science. Core subjects consist of three types of courses as follows: (1) and (2) are elective subjects and 2 credits or more are needed.
- Comprehensive Agricultural Science I (1 credit) (in Japanese; first term) Comprehensive Agricultural Science II (1 credit) (in English; second term).
- Advanced Subjects in each four doctoral courses
- Advanced Bioproduction and Bioenvironmental Sciences
- Advanced Bioresource and Life Sciences
- Advanced Global Dryland Science
- Academic Science Communication (required subject).
The students make a poster presentation, including an oral portion about the progress on their own research. Through discussions, the students will consider and improve their Doctoral thesis. It’s necessary for the students to take this course in the first and second year. This subject aims to enhance the student’s activity and motivation as the final goal of the course in our UGSAS.