What Can I Study at OIST as a Graduate Student?

OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) is a graduate university, and its own description of its mission centers on educating "a new generation of scientific leaders" through research that bridges disciplines. If you are looking for a specific list of degree programs or departments, the key thing to understand is that OIST states it has no academic departments — so the way you identify what to study is by research area and faculty unit rather than by a conventional department name. The practical starting points on the site are the "Study at OIST" section and the "Faculty and Research Units" pages.

How the academic structure shapes what you can study

Because OIST organizes itself around interdisciplinary research rather than departments, your field of study is defined by the research unit and faculty member you work with, combined with the broader discipline that unit sits in. The site describes researchers from more than 50 countries collaborating "across and combine scientific disciplines to pioneer new approaches to discovery and problem-solving."

This means:

• Your specialization comes from the research unit, not from a named department major.
• Cross-disciplinary work is the norm, so a project may span fields that would sit in separate departments at a traditional university.
• Faculty and Research Units is the page to browse when you want to see what areas are actually active.

Where to find study information on the website

The homepage navigation includes a Study at OIST entry, which is the intended route for prospective students. From there you can move into the research and faculty pages. The site's main sections visible in the navigation are:

If you want to gauge whether a field is active at OIST, the Research Update news items are a useful signal — recent examples on the homepage cover ion channel evolution, marine genomics, coral reef research, and quantum physics, which shows the breadth of disciplines in play.

Exploring faculty and research units for your field

A practical way to decide what you could study:

1. Go to Faculty and Research Units.
2. Scan unit names and faculty profiles for the discipline you come from (for example, marine science, genomics, physics, chemistry, computational science).
3. Read the unit's research description to see whether the work is single-discipline or crosses into other fields — this tells you how interdisciplinary your training would be.
4. Cross-check with Research Update news to see recent output from that area.

The homepage's "Under the Surface" feature on coral reefs is a concrete example of how a research theme is presented: it explains the scientific foundations of coral reef ecosystems and how that research informs conservation. That pattern — a theme tied to a research unit and its questions — is a good model for how to read other areas of study.

What to verify before applying

The site confirms OIST is a graduate university and points to a study section, but details such as specific degree offerings, application deadlines, and eligibility are not spelled out in the material available here. Before relying on any plan, check the Study at OIST pages directly for the current program structure and admissions requirements, and confirm specifics with OIST rather than assuming them from the general research description.