●History of relocation

Kyushu University decided in 1991 to move to its new Ito Campus, which straddles Motooka and Kuwabara in Nishi-ku, Fukuoka City, and Maebaru City and Shima Town (renamed Itoshima City since January 2010), for various reasons, including meeting demands for the integration and partnership-forming to improve research and education, and to ensure safety and access to increased space in the face of existing aging campus facilities and increasing student numbers. The new campus is based on the concepts of “construction of a university in an open environment, which supports energetic activities and autonomous reform in line with changes over time,” and “creation of an educational and research centre in line with these concepts.” We have worked to ensure that our campus reorganization enables us to become a “global university with a focus on Asia,” a “major comprehensive university that plays a leading role in Japan,” and a “university that can grow alongside the city, and be the pride of its citizens.”

●Outline of Ito Campus

The Ito Campus covers an area of approximately 272ha, stretching 3km from east to west and 2.5km from north to south. It lies roughly in the center of the Itoshima peninsula, west of Hakata Bay, approximately 15km from the center of Fukuoka (Tenjin). On public transport, it takes around 40 minutes to make this journey.

In addition to the convenience of being situated outside a major city, the campus benefits from a quiet environment, lying on the edge of an area of rich natural beauty. It is an area of historic importance, being the location of many artifacts left by visitors from the Korean Peninsula, and demonstrating how vital communication between the two areas was.

●Relocation planning

The plan is to move and integrate the three campuses located in Hakozaki (faculty of arts, sciences, engineering and agriculture, etc.), Ropponmatsu (General educational support, etc.) and Hara-machi (University farm) to Ito Campus. This move will involve new facilities measuring a total of 500,000m2 and the transfer of around 20,000 people.

In March 2001, we published the Kyushu University New Campus Master Plan, which provides indexes for the coordinated implementation of new campus creation over the long term. The area’s basic design, construction designs and building work are being implemented in line with this Master Plan.

●Relocation schedule

The first stage of the relocation has been completed, with approximately 5,200 engineering students and faculty being transferred during 2005 and 2006.

In the second stage of the relocation, students, faculty and administrative members of the Faculty of Arts and Science, the Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Global Society and the Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies moved to the new campus in April 2009, and students, faculty and administrative members of the Graduate School and Faculty of Mathematics moved to the new campus, approximately 5,600 in total in October 2009. This represents a further 5,600 people. At this point, the population of the Campus, including people in the support facilities, has reached 12,000, making it the largest campus of the University.

In the third stage, the relocation of the science departments was completed in October 2015. The relocation of the agricultural departments is due to be completed by October 2018.

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●Creating a town from the Ito Campus area, based on the academic research city philosophy

The area surrounding the Ito Campus is gradually being developed, based on the Kyushu University academic research city philosophy, with the opening of JR Kyudai Gakken Toshi Station at the same time as the Ito Campus was opened.

The Motooka area next to the Ito Campus has been developed under a land rezoning project and collaborative research involving industry, academia, and government is thriving there, thanks to the opening of centers such as Fukuoka Industry-Academia Symphonicity and the Fukuoka i³ center for Organic Photonics and Electronics Research (i³-OPERA), which tap into the deep well of knowledge and potential amassed at university facilities in the area. In a few years’ time, there are plans to build private-sector corporate research facilities, student housing and commercial facilities on the site.

Furthermore, the Tomari Katsuragi area, which lies to the south side of the Campus (in Itoshima City) is also under development, with various student residential and research facilities under construction.

●Plan for Use of the Hakozaki Campus Site Following Relocation

The Committee on the Vision for Future Use of the Kyushu University Hakozaki Campus Site was established in 2012, in order to consider the basic framework for facilitating the clearance and systematic urban development of the site of the Hakozaki Campus after relocation. In February 2013, it submitted its recommendations for the future use of the Hakozaki Campus site to the Mayor of Fukuoka City and the President of Kyushu University.

The Consultative Committee on the Use of the Hakozaki Campus Site was established for the purpose of liaison and consultation regarding efforts to realize the vision for the future use of the Hakozaki Campus site.

In July 2008, based on this plan, the "Grand Design for the Former Site of Kyushu University Hakozaki Campus" was formulated with the aim of presenting common development rules and a future vision for urban development.