In September 2023, Japan s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology nominated Tohoku University as a candidate to be a University for International Research Excellence (UIRE). This program is supported by Japan s 10 trillion yen (US$68.7 billion) University Fund (UF).
Japan's University Fund promises to revitalise Japan's research output, but there are good reasons to doubt its effectiveness, writes Hideaki Tanaka (Meiji University).