It is a great honour for me to convey warm-hearted congratulations to the 125th anniversary of Waseda University, this outstanding institution of education and research. I do so on behalf of the University of Bonn in Germany and - as I would like to add - also on behalf of any other partner university of Waseda in Europe. Especially in terms of higher education and science, Europe is growing together. Over the past years, the European university landscape has been undergoing fundamental changes reflecting the process of globalization. Our goal is to compete more effectively with other universities around the globe, but also to become more compatible with our counterparts. From the European perspective, we are more and more looking towards Asia - and towards Japan in particular - since we know that this world region does offer outstanding institutions of higher education as well as science and research at a truly high level.

The Bonn-Waseda co-operation might be an example of how partnerships could develop. For nearly half a century Bonn University has close academic links to Waseda University, which became our most privileged partner in East Asia. In 1960 both universities initiated an exchange of professors, and in the following years the first scholarships for an exchange of students became effective. As a result, in 1998 we signed a partnership agreement which stipulated the growing number of common programs.

In recent years our mutual relations have significantly been strengthened. In accordance with Waseda's remarkable mission statement ‘Cultivating Global Citizens’, a new program called ‘Thematic Studies Abroad’ has enabled undergraduates of Waseda to come to Bonn in order to attend special courses in German, in regional studies and in various other academic fields. At the same time we launched further joint research activities in life sciences and information technology. These co-operation projects are of particular and strategic importance to Bonn University, for they are focused on two of our main research areas with international visibility. One year ago an appropriate joint ‘Memorandum of Understanding for a Collaborative Research Program’ was signed.

What is the lesson we learned? Fruitful co-operation can only grow step by step, continuously, based on trust and personal friendships. And phases of success and consolidation as well as of inspiring experiences are part of the story.

Finally contacts between our universities are based to a great extent on the successful work of Waseda's European Centre which has been established in Bonn since 1991. We profited very much from the fact that this Centre is located in the neighbourhood of our university, since it has been instrumental for the implementation of all joint activities. I am positive that the importance of this European Centre will further grow, as Europe is becoming more and more attractive both for international students and scholars.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
we - the representatives of European universities - wish Waseda University all the best for the future, and we are confident that our mutual relations will keep on growing, as this leads to added value for our students, our scientists and at the end for the ‘Cultivation of Global Citizens’, too!

Thank you very much for your attention, and we are looking forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary of our partnership in three years!