Combining Research and Education to Advance Okayama University: Innovative Strategies to Return onto the Road of Success

For many years, there have been numerous attempts by the Japanese Government (MEXT in particular) to help Japanese Universities to keep pace with their counterparts in international developed nations. In 2020, only 3 of them remain in the top 100 of the ARWU list, and the ranking of Japanese universities continues to be significantly on decline. Based on the well-known Humboldt model, putting research at the core of the system, an innovative development strategy has been implemented at Okayama University. The paper details the major features of the method and finally concludes on the possible extension of the model to numerous Japanese universities where research teams are significantly present.