Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

OIST relies on public subsidies paid by the Japanese government. The government subsidy for OIST comes in two areas: a subsidy for operations and a subsidy for facilities. The PhD program is taught entirely in English and is individually tailored to each student. Students are encouraged to focus their research on cross-disciplinary areas of studies. In June 2001 Kōji Omi, former Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs and former Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, announced plans to establish a new graduate university in Okinawa. A Board of Governors was appointed in 2004 and the following year, the Diet recognized OIST as an "Independent Administrative Institution". The first batch of students were welcomed in September 2012 after receiving approval. The research community consists of faculty and researchers divided into "units" based on area of study. The university has no departments—OIST researchers conduct multi-disciplinary research in Physics, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Marine Science, Environmental and Ecological Sciences, Mathematical and Computational Sciences, and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.