Founded as a technical college in 1961, the Hiroshima Institute of Technology rapidly attained university status and started to offer four-year degree courses in 1963. It operates under the motto of "society, environment and ethics" and aims to develop "a humane outlook alongside technology ability".
It operates from three campuses. The main centre is in downtown Hiroshima, while Yachiyo offers the contrast of being "far removed from all the bustle of the city" and Numata hosts seminars and university clubs. The library has around 250,000 books.
While its 12 departments are spread across four faculties including life sciences (established in 2012), applied information science and environmental studies, while its strength continues to be greatest in engineering.
The single founding faculty in 1963, it now has six departments offering varying branches of the discipline – intelligent mechanical, electronic and computer, civil and environmental, architectural, mechanical systems and electrical systems - under its aegis, as well as a Graduate School.
Intelligent mechanical engineering focusses on automobile, robot and production technology, while electronic engineering emphasises the skills needed in a "User-oriented society based on ubiquitous technology". Research centres include the Electronics Research Centre of the Bulgarian Academy of Science and one devoted to ubiquitous technology.
Researchers from the university have recently collaborated with scientists from Mitsubishi to develop highly sophisticated plastic antennae which should be lighter, cheaper and more accurate than current metal-based models.
It offers six week summer courses in Japanese studies and culture to students from the Universities of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign (USA), Trinity Western (Canada) and Shenyang Aerospace University (China).
