W-09 From PhD to "Superleaders" : The Advanced Graduate Course on Molecular Systems for Devices at Kyushu University

Abstract

Transforming graduate school education at the doctoral level has been an important policy initiative of the Japanese government. A policy report issued in 2011 called for a drastic enrichment of doctoral courses to deal with the misalignment of the competencies developed at graduate schools versus those that are required by industry. The Advanced Graduate Course on Molecular Systems for Devices at Kyushu University, is a five-year integrated doctoral course funded by Japan's education ministry that addresses these issues. The course challenges doctoral students to become global "superleaders" who drive innovation in both science and society. This paper introduces the key differentiating factors of the course and its curriculum to illustrate how a cross-disciplinary approach can benefit doctoral students in engineering and the sciences. The course is designed to encourage students to go beyond their comfort zones in order to gain the knowledge and skills required of R&D superleaders.