The WISE Program is a five-year doctoral program promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. The program aims to produce outstanding doctoral graduates able to lead various academic sectors and to create centers of excellence where individuals can develop their expertise, cultivate themselves through intercultural exchanges, and launch collaborative research initiatives. Each university will leverage its strengths, based on the results of past graduate school reforms, and work systematically with other universities, research institutions, and private companies in Japan and abroad to bring together the world's highest educational and research capabilities.
From the fiscal year 2018 to 2020, 30 project proposals were adopted by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. The Applied Humanities Program for Cultivating Global Leaders, proposed by Chiba University, is the first program to be established by integrating a range of academic disciplines with a focus on the humanities. The program will be conducted collaboratively with the following universities and research institutions: Chiba University, Okayama University, Nagasaki University, Kumamoto University, The Graduate University for Advance Studies (Sôkendai), the National Museum of Japanese History, the School of Oriental Languages and Philosophy at Zhejiang Gongshang University (China), and the National Research University’s Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies Higher School of Economics). Certain private companies, such as Aeon Co. Ltd., Aeon Environmental Foundation, JTB Research Institute, Chiba Bank, and Keiyo Bank, will also participate. Based on the organizational collaboration system described above, this program aims to propose intrinsic innovation in humanistic knowledge and foster outstanding doctoral human resources.