Imperial College London is a science-based university founded in 1907, which has consistently rated among the top three universities of the United Kingdom and in the world’s top 10 by various world university rankings. The exchange program between TMDU and Imperial College London was launched in 2004, and four to five medical students from each institution have travelled and engaged in three- to five-month research activities every year. The program has been very productive with participants gaining valuable experiences, leading this program to become very popular and competitive in both institutions.

Each year, four to five highly motivated and qualified fourth-year TMDU medical students have been selected and spent the entire five months of their project semester period at Imperial College London. By engaging in research at world renowned labs and working with researchers and students with diverse cultural and educational backgrounds, students learned methods in scientific inquiry, acquired/sophisticated logical and critical thinking skills, information and data acquisition skills, academic writing and communicating skills, understood cultural sensitivity, and built networks with current and future world leaders in health sciences.

As partial fulfillment of the BSc degree at Imperial College London, four to five medical students per year have come and engaged in research in various labs at TMDU. Participants not only enjoyed learning the methods of scientific inquiry and research, but also enjoyed learning Japanese culture and networking with TMDU faculty staff and students.