In April 2009, the Department of Veterinary Science of School of Life & Environmental Sciences transferred to a new campus and facilities in the Rinku Town area located near the Kansai International Airport which is a gateway into the Kansai region. Equipped with leading-edge medical training and technologies directed towards animal treatment, the department conducts advanced research and education on public hygiene and infectious diseases, food safety, pharmaceuticals and animal-related biotechnology. Strong emphasis is placed on training researchers and veterinarians who can perform at a high global level.

The School of Engineering stands high among university citation ranking index per discipline: third in the nation in Computer Science, sixth in Material science and ninth in Engineering. The strongest is our Department of Aerospace Engineering with its highly trained engineers who designed the Maido-1, a small lightning observation satellite developed in concert with medium and small private enterprises of Higashi Osaka, the manufacturing hub of Osaka, and was successfully launched in January 2009.

Another focal point of OPU is its extensive industry-academia collaboration. Coordinator/contact persons are assigned throughout the campus to facilitate the matching process between academy and industry. Collaborative research with industry stands at 13th in national ranking.

In national ranking, OPU ranks fifth in the number of innovative research results (i.e., seeds) in the Science and Technology Incubation Program conducted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency. Particularly in the six subjects adopted as development type seeds, OPU ranks at the top, which is clear evidence of its excellence in innovative research.

OPU has academic partnership agreements with 78 universities and research institutions around the world, and a double-degree system has been established with some of the partner institutions. In fall 2009, the first joint degree doctorate was awarded to a student of the Graduate School of Science.

OPU ranks fourth in the nation in contribution to the local community and Industry in the 2009 Nikkei Ranking, which was made based on a survey of 740 public and private universities and graduate schools. OPU has been contributing the local community and industry through the collaboration research with local corporations, joint activities of industry and university, extension courses and so forth. "Delivery Science Experiment,"  a class conducted by the students of the School of Science in the local elementary schools is very popular and appreciated among pupils and teachers.