＊"IAMAS" is the acronym using the letters of the English names for both schools and is well known within Japan and overseas. In most cases we simply use the term "IAMAS" when referring to our schools.
Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences
International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences

IAMAS consists of two schools: the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences. The Institute is solely a graduate school (for obtaining a Masters Degree) and has one faculty and one course, namely Media Creations. There are 20 students in each year of the course. The Academy is a vocational college accepting 30 students each year who must have at least graduated from high school. The Academy was founded in 1996 and the Institute was opened in 2001. Both schools were established by Gifu Prefecture as part of a strategy to promote advanced information technology and the culture that develops from this. The schools' activities are closely linked with Softopia Japan, the hub of the Prefecture's information industry.

The Institute's goal is to educate and train specialists active in a wide range of fields relating to media culture. The Academy differs slightly in that it aims to equip students with the advanced skills required to become media creators. However, we think of the two schools as one and are able to smoothly run the vocational college and graduate school together. This combination is rare in Japan. School events such as the entrance ceremony, open campus day, culture forum, and graduate exhibition are all held jointly.

Since its foundation, IAMAS has advocated the integration of science and art. Students coming from various backgrounds including the sciences, humanities, arts and design have gained stimulation from peers with different fields of expertise and have taken up the challenge of a new world of expression and research. At the Academy, high school graduates, university graduates and those who already have experience in the workforce all study together. Such encounters with students of different backgrounds, experience and ages naturally lead to the broadening of perspectives. At the Institute, it is possible for students to delve into yet unexplored fields of media expression.

Since its establishment, IAMAS has actively pursued overseas linkages. Thanks to IAMAS activities such as the biennial international festival of interactive art and the Artist-in-Residence program, IAMAS is widely known internationally. The fact that IAMAS students have actively taken up the challenge of displaying their works at internationally reputable exhibitions such as Ars Electronica and have received high awards at such exhibitions also helps to raise IAMAS' reputation. Furthermore, eminent researchers and artists from within Japan and overseas regularly visit IAMAS to give lectures and conduct workshops. This is a unique feature that IAMAS is proud of and it provides the students with enormous stimulation.

IAMAS prides itself on having a free and laid-back school spirit that is not at all constrained by existing authoritarian frameworks. Although there are defined structures, namely Courses in the Academy and Studios in the Institute, research and creative activity need not fit within a particular category, but rather is encouraged to be cross-sectional. Here we are not confined to the narrow framework of research labs. Teaching staff and students freely exchange ideas, giving rise to opportunities for interesting collaboration.