In order to improve the bureaucratic organization, Hirobumi ITO, who acquired power after ousting Shigenobu OKUMA at the coup in 1881, merged all of the national schools in Tokyo with the University of Tokyo, which had been created by Ministry of Education.
1881年の政変で大隈重信を失脚させて実権をにぎった伊藤博文らは、官僚機構を整備するため、東京にある官立諸学校を文部省のつくった東京大学にすべて併合した。