Last year, an incident of misconduct involving a former employee of this university arose. Following a disciplinary process, the employee in question was dismissed in December 2024.
In response, OIST determined that a thorough investigation into the cause and impact of this case was necessary. A Third-Party Investigation Committee was established on January 31st 2025.
Today, the University received a report from the Third-Party Investigation Committee.
Here is an overview, and the university's response.
1. Overview of the case
The Third-Party Investigation Committee confirmed that a former employee of the University received money from a person associated with a company that had a business contract with OIST. This exchange of money began from around 2012 or 2013, and continued until December 2024. The total amount received by the former employee amounts to approximately 200 million yen. The investigation established that this money was used for personal entertainment among other things.
The report found no indication that contract amounts were inappropriately inflated. Furthermore, there was no evidence that the former employee directly favored the company or inappropriately influenced the procurement of services by the university.
2. OIST's Response to the Incident
OIST was established with the grand vision of creating a world-class research center for science and technology and contributing to the self-sustaining development of Okinawa. The government of Japan has supported us to undertake cutting-edge research and innovation, as well as contributing to the region. This requires the trust of our stakeholders and all members of our community. We fully recognize that this incident could undermine such trust. OIST has apologized sincerely to the people of Okinawa, the citizens of Japan, and all those who have supported the founding and development of our institution, for concern caused by this matter.
3. Recommendations from the Committee for Preventing Recurrence
The report from the Third-Party Investigation Committee concluded that the incident was primarily due to the former employee's unethical conduct and failure to follow compliance rules. It does not ascribe fault on the part of Vice Presidents who were supervising the individual or the Presidents above them throughout an extended period. The committee suggested preventive measures over and beyond the appropriate controls they found to be in place. These additional actions could further help in avoiding recurrence. We will adopt them in full. These are outlined in the note below.
4. Specific measures to be taken by OIST to prevent recurrence
(1) Strengthening internal checks and balances • We will regularly rotate personnel, including managerial-level and responsible staff in the departments involved in initiating, executing, and supervising large contracts. • Additionally, the responsible executives and the Human Resources Division will conduct periodic interviews with these staff to confirm proper execution of their duties.
(2) Early detection of inappropriate conduct • Whistleblowing: We will publicize an external reporting channel for our contractors and vendors and promote its use. • For staff below managerial level, who were not covered by this investigation, we will act to ensure that relationships with contractors are ethical and compliant. • We will conduct targeted internal audits and implement periodic surveys (approximately once every few years) to proactively identify and deter potential misconduct.
(3) Strengthening awareness that inappropriate behavior will be uncovered • We will review and enhance the ethics education program, strengthening guidance for staff and implementing appropriate improvements.
5. Strengthening controls over procurement operations
While the investigation found that contract awarding procedures were appropriately conducted, we will implement additional improvements to further strengthen control over procurement operations:
(1) Starting this fiscal year, we have begun splitting orders for facility maintenance and management services. With input from external experts in public sector facility management, we will comprehensively review procurement specifications from scratch and further advance order splitting.
(2) For projects with long-term sole-source contracts, we will conduct internal audits to verify their appropriateness and validity, encourage competitive bidding by multiple parties, and reduce sole-source contracts or single bids to ensure competition.
(3) While construction-related contracts have been handled by the Facilities Management Division, we will centralize procurement management university-wide. Facilities Management will remain responsible only for defining the content of items, services, and construction to be procured and submitting purchase requests via the system. Procedures for bidding and contract conclusion will be transferred to the Finance Division.
(4) Referring to rationalization plans for independent administrative institutions, we will compile an overview and characteristics of OIST's procurement and continuously apply a PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle for further procurement rationalization.
The progress of these preventive measures and procurement improvements will be regularly reviewed at executive meetings, with ongoing monitoring to ensure appropriate implementation.
Last year, OIST launched the five-year strategic plan "One OIST," which includes reviewing internal operational processes and organizational structures to support the university's growth over the next five years and beyond. We view the above-mentioned preventive and improvement measures as aligned with this strategy's direction to cultivate a One OIST culture and improve internal processes and governance.
We are committed to steadily implementing these measures and strengthening trust. We would like to once again apologize for any concern caused by this incident. OIST will continue to uphold the highest ethical standards and best practices in operational management, carrying out its founding mission of internationally outstanding education and research in science and technology. We remain dedicated to contributing to Okinawa's self-sustaining development and promoting and sustaining the advancement of science and technology in Japan and globally.
We ask for your understanding and support.
