Imperial College of Engineering

This article is about the Meiji era Tokyo based college of engineering. For the United Kingdom public research university, see Imperial College London.

35°40′18″N 139°44′45″E / 35.6717955°N 139.7457547°E / 35.6717955; 139.7457547

Imperial College of Engineering, c.1880.

The Imperial College of Engineering (工部大学校, Kōbudaigakkō) was a Japanese institution of higher education that was founded during the Meiji era. The college was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works for the training of young Japanese engineers.

Supporting Japan’s rapid industrialization at the end of the 19th century, the college commenced teaching in October 1873 soon after the initial cohort of teaching staff arrived from United Kingdom. The college was an immediate precursor to the establishment of the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Engineering in 1877.