東京藝術大学博士審査展公式サイト2015

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Message from the President

There once existed such a small handful of people who were conferred a doctoral degree that they were lauded as sure to “become either a great academic or a Cabinet minister”. However, the number of doctors has been rapidly increasing accompanying the expansion of graduate schools. In the 2010 academic year, 16,760 students became doctors throughout the whole of Japan and in the field of fine arts alone, 158 students were conferred doctor’s degrees.

I appreciate such an increase of doctorates, as it means the standards of Japanese academic research have improved, though matters have also arisen with this increase. A spate of incidents about irregularities in doctoral dissertations has been casting society’s questioning eyes on not only being a doctor but on the abilities of universities.

Although we have some departments at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, which examine only students’ dissertations as most universities do, one of the major features of our university is that we have practical departments which examine both the work and the dissertation of the student. As a result, examining both the doctoral dissertation and work became a unique challenge for our university, so we had repeated various trials and errors since 1983.

I believe that the Doctoral Program Final Exhibition, which has been held since 2007, will be one of the answers for that. We think that it is extremely important to ask the world through this exhibition whether the level of the works and the dissertations deserves to be conferred doctors’ degrees and whether the participants still retain their originality as artists by presenting the final stage of the doctoral degree examination to the public. At the same time, this is the place to show our enthusiasm for the cultivation of human learning to the public.

I would like everyone to come and visit our Doctoral Program Final Exhibition, experience the leading edge in the field of fine arts and see what the doctors of Tokyo University of the Arts, which is the only national art university in Japan, are like.


Message from the Director of Graduate School of Fine Arts

At the Graduate School of Fine Arts of Tokyo University of the Arts, there are two styles of doctoral degree examinations. One is submission of a doctoral dissertation for an academic research area, and the other is submission of a doctoral dissertation and a work for a practical research area. At graduate schools characterized by large numbers of students in practical research fields―including ours―examination methods have been under review from various perspectives over the years.

The pursuit of sensibility, techniques and expression in the creation of practical works comprises the true heart of our university’s education and research programs. Pursuing the creation of artwork with top-class creativity and quality is needed from an international, as well as a domestic, viewpoint. In addition to the requirement to present works at an even greater pinnacle of quality, we demand the pursuit of objective consideration and logical thinking. We think that earning a doctoral degree represents the attainment of that goal through the synergistic effects of the creation of artistic works and the preparation of dissertations.

The Graduate School of Fine Arts’ Doctoral Program Final Exhibition has shown student works while offering their presentations of dissertations to the public at the same venue. I believe this academic year’s exhibition was even greater in content.

From the 2014 academic year, we have also decided to post the “Publication of a Pictorial and Written Record of the Doctoral Program Final Exhibition” on our website. The online exhibition combines photographs of the artistic works with summaries of the dissertations. This will be an effective means of acquiring a comprehensive grasp of the research individual students have conducted, and also serve as a treasured archive of their accomplishments.

Earning a doctoral degree at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts is clearly the product requiring the understanding and support of a tremendous number of devoted people on both the education and research fronts. I wish to express my profound gratitude to all of these individuals for their committed service. It is also my sincere hope that students will continue to excel as artists or researchers after completing this course, and that the significance and social value of these doctoral degrees in fine arts take deeper root in society. In closing, I extend my deepest appreciation to all of the groups and individuals who provided instrumental support and wisdom in the planning and execution of our Doctoral Program Final Exhibition.