Education & Training Programs

GiST provides comprehensive educational programs, including a Doctoral Program, a Master's Program, Short-term Training Courses, and other offerings. It trains the students to have abilities to integrate knowledge of diverse academic fields, be able to deal with social issues, and employ scientific approaches in planning, drafting, implementing, evaluating, and revising STI policies.

GiST's faculty consists of professors from inside and outside Japan who are experts on STI policy studies. To achieve more practical education, the program also accommodates front-line practitioners of science and technology policy as lecturers, and organizes many research workshops and lectures inviting eminent researchers and practitioners from inside and outside Japan.

The program advances education and research into "Science for STI Policy" in collaboration with leading Japanese research bodies in STI policy studies, including the SciREX member institutions (The University of Tokyo, Hitotsubashi University, Osaka University-Kyoto University, and Kyushu University) as well as the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP), the Center for Research and Development Strategy of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST-CRDS), and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

Educational Goals

To train the students to have such skills that are necessary to conduct science-based policy research

• Reviewing existing research and building a logical hypotheses
• Verifying the hypotheses by collecting facts and data
• Examining the implications based on the analyses of the results

To develop the abilities to plan, design, implement, evaluate and revise science, technology and innovation policies

• Knowledge of various policies, governmental interventions that have been implemented in Japan and abroad to date, and their effects
• Scientific research and innovation process
• Understanding and excercizing the process of forming pragmatic policies
• Ability to debate and negotiate with relevant individuals and institutions overseas

Ideal Development

• National government officials, policy staff in legislative bodies (e.g., the Diet, political parties, and parliament members)
• Local government officials
• Executives at international organizations who are closely related to economic growth and development through innovation and technology transfers
• Program officers at funding agencies
• Analysts and research staff at think tanks that are related to national and regional policy making
• Executives and executive-candidates responsible for corporate strategy
• Researcher to promote research or educator to guide the next generation in STI policy research.