The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. It offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and provides research facilities for these disciplines. The University aims to provide its students with opportunities for intellectual development as well as for the acquisition of professional knowledge and skills.

The University organization consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, 9 faculties, and 15 graduate schools. The 9 faculties are Law, Medicine, Engineering, Letters, Science, Agriculture, Economics, Education , and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The traditional 11 graduate schools are Law and Politics, Medicine, Engineering, Humanities and Sociology, Science, Agricultural and Life Sciences, Economics, Arts and Sciences, Education, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Mathematical Sciences.

In the past decade the University saw the establishment of 4 new pioneering graduate schools: Frontier Sciences, Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Information Science and Technology, and Public Policy.