The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics (KCGI) celebrated its 19th anniversary on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, and held a commemorative lecture in the main lecture room of its new building, which was completed in August of this year. The lecture was broadcast on demand, and students, faculty, and staff celebrated the 19th anniversary in their own places and pledged further development before the upcoming 20th anniversary. Afterwards, we held a jazz concert to commemorate the completion of the new school building, inviting all concerned to attend, and we also took the opportunity to unveil our brand-new school building for training IT professionals.
In his commemorative lecture, President Toshihide Ibaraki spoke about the development of KCGI, introducing the personalities and achievements of its first president, Hiroshi Hagiwara, and second president, Toshiharu Hasegawa, under the title of "The Trajectory of Kyoto Computer Graduate Institute: From the Memories of Past Presidents." President Ibaraki has served as the third president since 2010.
The venue for the commemorative lecture and concert to celebrate the completion of the new building is a large staircase-style lecture hall that spans two floors, the first floor and basement. In addition to classes and lectures, the room is designed to provide optimum acoustics for lectures, concerts, plays, movies, and other multi-purpose use. The jazz concert will feature the Mayphy Quintet, featuring Mayphy, a singer-songwriter with a unique world view. Participants enjoyed a light jazz performance in a brand new hall. Before the concert, Wataru Hasegawa, President of the KCG Group, made the following remarks: "KCG aims to contribute to the realization of an advanced information society and economic development by training IT professionals with more advanced technology, broad knowledge, and international mindedness than ever before. In a video message, Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa said, "Kyoto University of Information Science and Technology has nurtured many IT leaders who firmly anticipate the needs of the times and are active in the world. I am confident that it will continue to grow and develop greatly in the future," he congratulated.
The new school building has four stories above ground and one below. It is equipped with high-flex classrooms that can accommodate various learning styles such as active learning, an innovation room that promotes the development of new ideas, individual work booths for online classes and meetings, a library with books mainly on IT, a large lecture room that can accommodate 200 people, and an experimental space for agricultural IT, providing a stage for developing advanced, innovative, and global education backed by the university's educational experience and theory.
KCGI opened in 2004 as Japan's first IT professional graduate school, inheriting the pioneering spirit of Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG), Japan's first computer education institution founded in 1963.The Graduate School of Applied Information Technology offers a major in Web Business Technology, and upon completion, students are awarded a Master of Information Technology (Professional), the highest degree in the field of IT applications. The program is designed to enable students to concentrate on their studies efficiently through the following specialized fields: Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Web System Development, Network Administration, Global Entrepreneurship, ERP, IT Manga & Anime, and IT Tourism, and the following industry subject groups: FinTech, Agriculture, Marine, Medicine/Health, Content Marketing, and Education. The admission capacity has increased from the original 80 (160 total) to 600 (1,200 total). We send out excellent human resources with knowledge and skills in IT and management, as well as content, to the IT industry in Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world.
