[2] In addition, YU is ranked the tenth place (10th) in Japanese research organization ranking, announcement in April 2017, by the analysis of the number of the highly cited papers in a "Materials Science" field alone in the Japanese local national university.

The institute was the seventh National Higher Technical School in Japan following the establishment of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Kumamoto, and Sendai Higher Technical Schools.

During World War II, the United States' bombers destroyed the Komagome laboratories of the Japanese science research institute RIKEN, and it was evacuated to several local cities (Kanazawa, Osaka and Yamagata) as the situation worsened.

To meet the growing needs of primary and secondary education, Yamagata Prefecture founded one more public teacher-training institution, the Yamagata Prefectural Teacher's School for Vocational Supplementary Education, in 1922.

In 2006, Yuki Akio became the new university president in an election that caused much acrimony and hit the national press.

Although he did not win the popular vote, a cabal of non-university Election Committee members forced through his nomination.

Yuki was a civil servant at the Japanese Ministry of Education at the time and his appointment attracted much criticism for being a case of amakudari, a corrupt practice the government had vowed to stamp out.