An Overview of Classes at UTokyo Part – I
Rahul Maroju Updated in May 2026

In this article, I shall provide a brief overview of the classes at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo), with some special references to Master Program in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Information Systems (EEIS). Most of this information is applicable to Master and PhD programs in other departments.

Online Course Catalog Portal

The list of courses being taught at UTokyo is available to public in the link below:
https://catalog.he.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ustep-index

This website also shows the basic information about each course which the students can refer to beforehand while deciding their course plan. Most of these classes are conducted face-to-face, and there are some online courses too, which will be mentioned in the “Teaching Methods” section of the portal.

Getting Ready for Classes!

At the beginning of each semester, the student is expected to register some courses in a portal. The deadline for completing the course registration is around a week from the start of the classes. So, the student can attend the first few classes of as many courses as interested in deciding their plan.

Generally, during the first class, the course details like the learning objectives, outline of topics, evaluation criteria, etc. are provided. Also, the course instructors may inform some regulations to keep in mind during the course – for example, there could be some restrictions on students who can register for that course.

Course Selection

UTokyo has a rich diversity of programs. Although most of the courses in the university are taught in Japanese language, there are a good number of courses being taught in English. However, finding a course relevant to the student’s lab research in English can be challenging. A good amount of time can be invested researching the catalog for selecting appropriate courses by going through a lot of options to shortlist and then finalizing.

Tip: It is a good idea to identify if there are any courses being taught by your supervisor. Also, take recommendations for options from your lab members!

Program Requirement

For EEIS, the Master program requirement is to complete a total of 30 credits by the end of the program. Of them, 16 credits correspond to elective courses, and the remaining 14 credits are fixed. The fixed credits are mandatory courses for all Master students in EEIS. They include 2 types of courses - 10 credits correspond to “Master Course Experiment” which is a mandatory course in the 2nd semester, and 4 credits correspond to “Master Course Seminar” which happen in all the semesters (2 credits for 1st year and 2 credits for 2nd year).

In the Master Course Experiment, the student must perform 2 experiments, which can be chosen from a list of options. This is a group activity of 3-4 students, thus facilitating a crucial skill of research collaboration.

As a part of Master Course Seminar, 2-3 seminar talks presented by other students should be attended every Friday throughout the program from any room of choice and comments should be submitted at the end of the session.

The elective courses can be chosen from any other department outside EEIS, allowing great flexibility for the students to explore their interested topics. The program is designed in such a way that courses can be completed within a reasonable time, so that more time and effort can be devoted to research work for thesis.