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On Wednesday, March 25 and Thursday, March 26, 2026, the graduation ceremonies for undergraduate students, graduate students and students from the Art and Architecture School were held at the Waseda Arena on Toyama Campus. 

For the academic year 2025, a total of 8,096 undergraduate students, 57 from the Art and Architecture School, 1,966 master’s degree students, 541 professional master’s degree students, and 233 doctoral degree students graduated from Waseda (as of March 18, 2026). This made for a grand total of 10,893 students who embarked from Waseda to begin a new chapter of their lives.

In consideration of the health and safety of all students and their family members, only graduating students were invited to the ceremonies. The ceremonies were split into multiple sessions over two days to disperse the number of participants per session. This year, there were live broadcast viewing areas for guardians of students set up on Waseda Campus.

Additionally, the Azusa Ono Memorial Award ceremony (**Sites available only in Japanese) was held to congratulate students and groups with outstanding achievements in the areas of Academics and Sports. 

The President of Waseda University, Aiji Tanaka, addressed the graduating students at the ceremony.

President’s Address (extract) 

On behalf of Waseda University, it is my great pleasure to congratulate you upon your graduation. We also extend congratulations to your family, relatives, and friends. I am sure that this is a moment you have been anticipating while studying here at Waseda.
At the same time, we would like you to know that we are all proud of you, who have completed your study at Waseda, accomplished your own goals, and are graduating today.

Those graduating from undergraduate programs, those completing Art and Architecture School programs, and those completing master’s or doctoral programs today are all, I believe, filled with a sense of brightness and joy. We are also truly happy to see your bright smiles.

This ceremony also carries special meaning for me personally. I will step down as President on September 20 this year after serving two terms over eight years, and therefore this will be the last time I deliver a commencement address in March.

During the seven and a half years since I became President, many things have happened both in the world and in Japan. In recent years, so many violent conflicts and military attacks took place all over the world. Because of these, many people died, and even more people were injured. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began and continued for three years. Climate change has continued to intensify across the globe. In January 2024, the Noto Peninsula was struck by a major earthquake and tsunami, affecting many people, including those who lost their lives. None of these problems have been resolved.

Why do people oppose and hurt one another? And are human beings powerless before the great forces of nature?

As with these examples, the problems that humanity currently faces are all issues without correct answers and without clear solutions. I call the ability to boldly confront such problems without answers and to think through one’s own solutions “intellectual resilience.” Over the past seven and a half years, I have spoken about my wish for students to foster this capability.

At the same time, I have said that I would like students to cultivate “flexible sensitivity,” the ability to understand and empathize with people suffering from war, conflict, and natural disasters, as well as those in circumstances different from one’s own.

Over the past four years, I have also conveyed the importance of enhancing “responsive reasoning,” the ability to listen to people with different perspectives and to exchange views.

I believe that during your time at Waseda University, you have cultivated “intellectual resilience,” “flexible sensitivity,” and “responsive reasoning.” Precisely because the world and Japan are in such a state of deep uncertainty, society now seeks people with these qualities.

Lastly, what I most want to tell you is this: once you graduate and enter society, devote yourself to what you truly want to do and find meaningful. If you make your choice based on immediate promotion or profit and engage in work that does not interest you, you will only perform at 80 percent of your ability. However, if you pursue what you find interesting and meaningful, you will be able to perform at 120 percent. In any era and in any society, those who work at 120 percent are more likely to succeed than those who work at 80 percent. I have told this to my seminar students when they graduated, and now, as President, I would like to offer this message to all Waseda graduates.

After graduation, please return to your alma mater from time to time. When you do, let us meet you, who shine even more brightly than now, again at a Waseda that shines even more brightly than now.

To those graduating students who are still learning Japanese, I want to congratulate you briefly in English.

You should be proud of what you have learned at Waseda, as well as trust in your intelligence and ability.  With your education, intelligence and ability, may you contribute to humankind as you make your way through the world.

Congratulations on your graduation!

Graduates, once again, congratulations on your graduation!

For the full speech in English, click here.

The Executive Chairman of the Waseda University Alumni Association (WUAA), Akira Mandai, delivered a congratulory　message to encourage and welcome the soon-to-be alumni of Waseda.

Congratulatory Speech (extract) 

First of all, I would like to express my heartiest congratulations to you upon your graduation today, as well as to the families who have supported you during your time at Waseda University!

In April 2022, when many of you entered Waseda University, society was still reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Although social activities gradually recovered after that, you no doubt experienced many difficulties in continuing your studies, extracurricular activities, and other student life. Those experiences, I imagine, add to the pleasure of graduation. Your hearts must be filled with joy and pride in your accomplishments. For this reason, I too am filled with a particularly strong desire to offer you my heartfelt congratulations and deliver this message on behalf of the WUAA.

All of you, without exception, will become alumni of Waseda University and registered members of the WUAA upon graduation. I’d like to take this opportunity to explain to you a little about our association. At Waseda University, we call our graduates “koyu,” and the WUAA, also referred to as “Koyukai,” is an alumni organization composed of graduates of this university.

Our 1,400 alumni association chapters, known as “Tomonkai,” are active throughout the world, organized by categories such as regions in Japan, graduation years, professions, and overseas countries. The power of these 700,000 alumni is the pride of Waseda. Active in a wide range of fields in Japan and around the world, our alumni contribute to society not only as business people and executives, but also as prime ministers, community organizers, politicians, government officials, lawyers, judicial officers, athletes, writers, artists, doctors, and media personalities. In the recent Milano Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, in addition to two current Waseda students, 12 alumni took part, realizing their dream of becoming Olympic athletes. This diversity of alumni is the vitality and pride of Waseda.

The goal of the WUAA is to carry on this wonderful tradition and change flexibly with the times, moving forward together with “Waseda, the home of the heart.” The association opens its doors wide to all alumni, and we look forward to your participation.

As you go on to the next stages in your lives, feel free to make full use of the rich human resources and networks that WUAA has to offer. Your fellow alumni will always give you a warm welcome at Tomonkai chapters not only throughout Japan but also in various regions of the world, industries, and graduation cohorts. Contact information on Tomonkai chapters is available on the WUAA website. Please contact us and join us in our activities. And going forward, we also ask for your warm guidance as a strong support group for current Waseda students.

Along the paths that you are about to take, there will not only be enjoyable and happy times. You are also likely to face great hardships that may bring pain and sorrow. However, by further refining the robust intellect, flexible sensibility, and empathetic reason you have acquired at this university, and by embracing the pride of having studied at Waseda and your pioneering spirit, I hope you will move the hearts and minds of people not only in Japan but also overseas and become someone who can make a major contribution to the world.

In closing, I will say that the WUAA’s slogan is “To the world together, toward the future together.” Graduates of Waseda, spread your wings and soar high, into the world and into the future!

I sincerely look forward to seeing you again on a homecoming day when you will be invited to the university five years after graduation.

Once again, many congratulations on your graduation.

For the full speech in English, click here.

Graduation Album

Waseda Live

*The actual day live-broadcast of the ceremonies can be watched from the URLs below. 

March 25, 2026 (Wed)
1st Session
School of Political Science and Economics; School of Law; School of Social Sciences
Graduate School of Political Science; Graduate School of Economics; Graduate School of Law; Waseda Law School; Graduate School of Social Sciences

2nd Session
School of Culture, Media and Society; School of Humanities and Social Sciences; School of Commerce
Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Graduate School of Commerce; Graduate School of Accountancy; Graduate School of Business and Finance

March 26, 2026 (Thurs)
3rd Session
School of Education; School of Human Sciences (including the Online Degree Program); School of Sport Sciences; School of International Liberal Studies
Graduate School of Education; Graduate School of Human Sciences; Graduate School of Sport Sciences; Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies; Graduate School of Japanese Applied Linguistics; Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies

4th Session

School of Fundamental Science and Engineering; School of Creative Science and Engineering; School of Advanced Science and Engineering; Art and Architecture School
Graduate School of Fundamental Science and Engineering; Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering; Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering; Graduate School of Environment and Energy Engineering; Graduate School of Information, Production and Systems