Professor Yuko Fujigaki, the first woman elected as the next president of the University of Tokyo, will serve a six-year term starting April next year.

Professor Yuko Fujigaki (64) of the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, who has been selected as the next president of the University of Tokyo, held a press conference in Tokyo on the 29th and expressed her aspirations, saying, ``The international and social role that our university must play is to lead academics in Japan and around the world.I want to go back to the basics of what a university is and fulfill that role.''

Professor Yuko Fujigaki to become the next president of the University of Tokyo, the first woman to serve for a six-year term starting April next year

There has been a series of scandals, including corruption cases, within the university, and there is an urgent need to rebuild the governance system. Mr. Fujigaki said, ``I would like to firmly inherit and develop President Teruo Fujii's governance reforms.''

Yuko Kuniya, a former NHK broadcaster who served as the chairperson of the selection and supervision meeting, also attended the press conference. Regarding the reason for selecting Mr. Fujigaki, he explained, ``He has the communication skills to convey science and technology to society, and the strong will and ability to restore trust in academia.Based on his wide range of international experience, we judged that he has sufficient ability to bring about change.''

Fujigaki came in second place in two polls conducted by faculty and staff during the selection process. Chairman Kuniya emphasized, ``We held repeated careful and serious discussions based on various materials and interview results, and made our selections responsibly.''

Mr. Fujigaki graduated from the University of Tokyo. He specializes in science, technology and society theory and scientometrics, and has served as assistant to the president of the University of Tokyo, as well as director and vice president. This is the first time that a woman has been appointed as president of the university, and her term of office will be six years starting in April next year.