Kyushu Institute of Technology is one of the 87 national universities in Japan. Located in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, it is dedicated to education and research in the fields of science and technology "KIT Tobata campus front gate (Seimon) with the flags out on a national holiday The university was granted government permission to be founded in 1907 as a private training school for engineers called Meiji Senmon Gakkō (Meiji Vocational School), toward the end of the Meiji period. The first campus opened its doors in Tobata in 1909, and the centenary of the university is therefore being celebrated in 2009. KIT became a Japanese national university on May 31, 1949 and has, since April 1, 2004, been incorporated as a national university corporation under a new law that applies to all national universities."