Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS)

Programme overview

GPSS is the University of Tokyo's fully English-taught master's programme in sustainability science, run at the Kashiwa Campus by the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences. Established in 2007 as the world's first graduate programme of its kind, it is operated jointly by the six departments of the Division of Environmental Studies (Natural Environmental Studies; Ocean Technology, Policy, and Environment; Environment Systems; Human and Engineered Environmental Studies; Socio-Cultural Environmental Studies; International Studies) and sits under the Sustainable Society Design Center. Its curriculum is built on three declared pillars — transdisciplinarity, inclusivity and transformative change — and combines a small compulsory core (a sustainability science course, a compulsory exercise course and a weekly peer-learning seminar) with 12 credits of thesis research and a wide elective range drawn from across the graduate school. GPSS admits students once a year, through the GSFS Schedule B entrance examination, which consists of a document review followed by an oral examination held by video conference; it is one of the very few UTokyo master's programmes whose entire selection is conducted in English with no Japanese requirement. A separate, scholarship-driven admission route exists for candidates of the Asian Development Bank – Japan Scholarship Program.

GPSS is not a department but a graduate education programme that runs across the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences. It is jointly operated by the six departments of the Division of Environmental Studies — Natural Environmental Studies; Ocean Technology, Policy, and Environment; Environment Systems; Human and Engineered Environmental Studies; Socio-Cultural Environmental Studies; and International Studies — and since 2022 has been positioned under the Sustainable Society Design Center (SSDC) of GSFS. Faculty who can supervise GPSS students come from SSDC, those six departments, and the University's Institute for Future Initiatives. GPSS holds its own independent entrance examination: "GSFS has 11 departments and one program: Graduate Program in Sustainability Science which conducts its own independent entrance examination." It admits only through GSFS Schedule B (autumn application, winter examination), and its admission quota is set within the combined quotas of the six participating departments rather than separately. Master's applicants nominate three prospective supervisors on the Inquiry Sheet and may be assigned a faculty member they did not choose. The programme's compulsory courses, compulsory exercise course and seminar courses are also opened to students of other GSFS departments as the Minor Program in Sustainability Science.

Important facts