The 21st Century COE(Center of Excellence) Program is a support program launched during FY 2002 by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology with the aim of raising the level of research and education at Japanese universities and making them more internationally competitive. Since the program places emphasis on promoting the formation of world-class research and educational centers, only research projects judged to have excellent potential are to be selected to receive funding. In principle, projects that are selected will receive generous research funds for a period of 5 years. Thus, one of the goals of the program is to encourage a competitive atmosphere among universities and give new vitality to their research activities.
During FY 2003 applications were made for a total of 15 projects in 5 fields solicited by researchers associated with Kyoto University, and of these 11 were selected to receive funding. Including the 11 projects from FY 2002, Kyoto University now has a total of 22 projects.