The Division of Design and Media Technology was established in 2009. It started from the master’s program and the doctoral program at the time of establishment. Currently, after the undergraduate reorganization in 2016 and the graduate school reorganization (master’s course) in 2018, the Graduate School of Science and Engineering (doctoral course) started in 2019. All the master programs belong to one graduate school. At this university, four majors are established in the Graduate School of Science (Master’s Program), and each major has a course. For the doctoral program, three majors have been established at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, one of which is the design and media technology major. The master’s program is a course, and the doctoral program is a major, which is a bit confusing. In this paper, the master’s program and the doctoral program are collectively referred to as D & MT (Design and Media Technology).

D & MT consists of three fields: the art, environment, and information. In the art field, we mainly conduct design engineering. In the environment and information fields, we mainly conduct education and research related to media technology. We aim to create safe, comfortable spaces and products and environmentally-friendly digital content, connecting people, things, and information more comfortably, using varied design thinking and high-level media technologies that support design thinking, based on the needs of a society seeking spiritual enrichment. Hence, we conduct education and research to develop creativity to produce advanced designs and high-level media system skills to contribute to the realization of those designs. Also, we have established various environments that foster international perspectives and awareness of regional issues.

We want to develop people who understand the respective fields of “design technology” and “media technology” and can play active roles in various areas of design and media technology. If students are from the environment or information, they are trained to be media engineers and researchers who understand design, and if they are from the arts, they aim to become designers and researchers who understand media technologies.

At D & MT, the faculty member in charge served as a contact point and is very active in exchanges with overseas partner universities. Every year, many international students enter D & MT through research students and exchange students. Over the past few years, 40% to 50% of students are international students. In the Master program, PBL (Project Based Learning) is conducted in a mixed environment with international and Japanese students. The students with different nationalities and specializations can find and solve problems, contributing to the globalization of students. The Tohoku Branch of the Society of Arts and Sciences, run mainly by D & MT teachers, holds an annual digital content exhibition “Art & Technology Tohoku”. The exhibition event is managed mostly by D & MT students and is used as a place to cultivate social and communication skills. Also, many students exhibit the PBL mentioned above artefacts and their research results at this exhibition event. There is an increasing number of students engaged in content production and technical development beyond the lectures.

Art & Technology Tohoku Website
http://www-cg.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/AT2019/index.html