Imperial College of Engineering

The teaching methods introduced by Dyer and his colleagues were revolutionary at the time. Courses had a strong practical element and lasted for over six years with all classes being given in English. The first two years consisted of general engineering and were followed by more specialist classes in

• Civil Engineering

• Mechanical Engineering

• Telegraphy

• Architecture

• Practical Chemistry

• Mining

• Metallurgy

• Naval Architecture

The third and fourth years were spent partly at the College and partly on practical work, while the last two years of the course were spent entirely in practical work. Assessment was continuous by fortnightly class tests with examinations at the end of the second and fourth years. Students paid no fees as long as they committed themselves to work for the Japanese Government for seven years after their graduation. The College opened in August 1873 with 56 students, 31 of which, Dyer insisted, had to attend an emergency 'preparatory school' in the first instance. Much of the practical work took place at the college workshops at Akabane where Dyer had set up extensive facilities. Akabane was later to become a Military Arsenal. Students at the College were often involved in substantial projects such as Sakuro Tanabe's Biwako Sosin Water Channel Project.

The College had an excellent staff at the time of Dyer's principalship, including many Scots. Two of particular note were the physicist W E Ayrton, who made a major contribution to the development of Electrical Engineering at the end of the last century, and J Milne one of the founders of modern seismology.

Locomotive of type used on Tokyo-Yokohama line

According to Olive Checkland, the Meiji Government used the Imperial College of Engineering from time to time for grand receptions such as the visit of the American President Ulysses S Grant in 1879. Apparently many people at the time regarded the ICE as 'the most beautiful building in Tokyo'.

A memorial built from some of the bricks used to build the college now stands on the site of the former college.The photograph on the left below shows Robin Hunter and Shoji Katoh standing in front of the memorial in 1997. Over the years the memorial has been moved twice, and the photograph on the right below shows a piece of brick from the memorial (and hence from the college) left over after one of the moves.