[KOSEN] "Teachers Keep Learning Too": Semiconductor Manufacturing Training for Faculty Held Simultaneously at Asahikawa and Sasebo KOSENs, Providing Practical Experience to Teachers Nationwide

“I want to raise excellent students, but I have never touched manufacturing equipment myself.” This is not just a problem for some teachers, but a structural challenge facing semiconductor education in Japan. As semiconductor manufacturing laboratories in universities and companies have shrunk, the number of teachers with practical manufacturing experience has rapidly declined. If the educators lack experience, even the best curriculum will be half as effective. To fill this "educational void," two schools leading semiconductor talent development have taken action. The National Institute of Technology (KOSEN) (Hachioji, Tokyo; President: Isao Taniguchi) held a semiconductor manufacturing process training session for KOSEN faculty nationwide on March 23-24, 2026, at Asahikawa National College of Technology (Asahikawa, Hokkaido; President: Kosuke Yakubo) and Sasebo National College of Technology (Sasebo, Nagasaki; President: Sadayuki Shimoda). A total of 12 teachers from across the country participated in the training, which was conducted with different approaches in the north and south of Japan. They operated manufacturing equipment and experienced the entire process from design to completion of semiconductor devices with their own hands. Why is teacher training necessary now? “If one teacher changes, hundreds of students change.” Every year, many students enter the 51 national KOSENs and go out into the industry. The quality of that education depends on the practical experience of the teachers. In the semiconductor field, teachers who have actually manufactured semiconductors are disappearing from the educational scene. The lack of teachers who know the process physically is a hidden but serious bottleneck in talent development. The COMPASS 5.0 project, promoted by KOSEN, is tackling this issue head-on. This training is one of its core measures, an investment in the upstream of talent development to help KOSEN teachers nationwide master the "key points of instruction" and become educators who can convey them realistically in the classroom. At Asahikawa KOSEN, seven teachers participated in a "full process experience training." This training serves as a model case for deploying teaching materials developed at Kushiro KOSEN to other KOSENs. By experiencing the entire process from design to packaging, participants bridged the gap between "knowing" and "doing." At Sasebo KOSEN, five teachers participated in practical training using "Minimal Fab" technology. Unlike traditional mega-fabs, Minimal Fab is an innovative technology that realizes small-lot semiconductor prototyping in a short period using ultra-small, low-cost manufacturing equipment. This lowers the barrier to entry and makes it possible to place "manufacturing" at the center of education at any KOSEN in the country.