Waseda WeeklyWaseda Weekly

Photo by Nanako Ono

Aiji Tanaka, Ph.D.  President, Waseda University 

Dear Graduating Students, Congratulations on your graduation today!

I assume that many of you entered Waseda University in April 2022. In other words, I assume that you were unable to fully enjoy your high school life due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I believe that the impact of the pandemic was largely eliminated in the latter half of your student life after you entered university, and you were able to enjoy student life to the fullest.

At the Hakone Ekiden on January 2nd, Waseda fought hard and came just one step away from winning the first leg. When I met many people immediately afterwards, even those who weren't Waseda alumni praised the team's efforts, saying things like, "What a shame about the Hakone Ekiden!" This shows how much Waseda is loved and supported by so many people. I hope you will all be proud of your studies at Waseda, treat everyone with respect, and become people who are trusted by everyone. Then, with confidence in what you learned at Waseda, go out into the world or go on to graduate school.

I am confident that the quality of education and the level of research at Waseda University over the past four years have been extremely high, and I hope that you will also be confident in the logical thinking and academic understanding you have acquired at Waseda.

At the same time, you have developed a "Intellectual resilience" at Waseda, which will enable you to tackle problems that have no clear answers and think through your own solutions. I believe you have also cultivated a "Flexible sensitivity" that allows you to understand the feelings of people who are different from you. Furthermore, I believe you have learned "reason that resonates" when engaging in dialogue, by respecting the other person's reason, listening carefully, fully understanding their thinking, and then conveying your own opinion in a way that is understandable to them.

However, please DO NOT be overly confident. Waseda graduates are confident but also humble. I hope that you will all be like that. Even after you graduate, please come back to visit your alma mater.  We will show you a Waseda University that will be an ever-more shining alma mater in which you can take rightful pride as graduates.  We in turn will look forward to welcoming you again, ever-more impressive as your lives further unfold.

Congratulations on your graduation!