Extension of the Period of Closure of Waseda University

April 14, 2020
(Updated on April 15, 2020)

Dear Colleagues of Waseda University Faculty Members and Staff,

On April 6, 2020, I announced that all the campuses of Waseda University would be closed and asked all faculty members and staff to work from home until April 21.  However, the speed of spread of the new coronavirus has sharply increased.  In addition, the Governor of Tokyo requested on April 10 that all the universities in Tokyo close from April 11 until May 6, 2020.  Given the circumstances, we have decided to extend the period of closure of all Waseda University campuses and the period of working at home via internet.

As a result of our situation, I am asking all courses to move online from May 11 for the time being.  It is important that we consider those students who are outside Japan or outside our campus areas in Japan who may not be able to come to campus.  These students may have already decided to take courses online from home, and we are committed to “leave no one behind.”

Let me repeat Waseda University’s three important missions.  Firstly, we will protect the life and health of our students as well as those of our faculty members and staff to the extent possible.  Secondly, we are committed to providing students with an excellent education.  Thirdly, we will continue to conduct our research and scholarly work even under difficult conditions.  In order to fulfill these missions, we will refrain from commuting to our physical campuses.  Although some of you may be expecting to work on campus from April 22 on, please understand that the situation does not allow us to do so.  At the same time, we are preparing for online teaching and working from May 11 onwards.

During this period of campus closure, no faculty member or researcher is allowed to do research at her/his office or laboratory on campus regardless of whether she/he is in the field of science and engineering, social sciences or humanities.  As exceptions, she/he may be permitted to enter to campus for a short period of time only if her/his research project will be permanently damaged without the maintenance of devices or machines or animal lives used in experiments.  She/he has to apply at least one day before the day of entrance.

Although we have received many requests to use offices or laboratories for the purpose of continuing research, we are asking researchers to refrain from using facilities on campus for the time being, because they may spread coronavirus to others on campus without knowing they are infected.  We apologize for the inconvenience, and we sincerely request that you are to continue your research at home as much as you can.

Our fight against the coronavirus may last for a quite long time. Each of us must imagine circumstances in which we could inadvertently become infected and or be a spreader. Thank you for your willingness to work together in these challenging times.

Best regards,

Aiji Tanaka, President
Waseda University

New Announcement

The Period of Closure of Campuses and that of Working at Home:

From Wednesday, April 8, 2020 through Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Note (1):  Depending on the situation of new coronavirus spread, we may have to extend the period mentioned above again.

Note (2):  In order to learn how to learn online teaching, please see the site called “Teach  Anywhere” in “Important Notification from your department” within “Announcements”, that you can find after you log in to ‘MyWaseda’ from the main website of Waseda Universtiy.

* You need ID and Pass Word to access “Teach Anywhere”.  You should log in to ‘My Waseda’ from the main website of Waseda Universtiy, and look into “[Important] Regarding Reference to Teach Anywhere/Learn Anywhere” within ‘Important Notifications from Your Deparatment’ of ‘Announcement’.

*You can use the chatbot, interactive software application with auto-response functions, located under “Learn Anywhere” for general system inquiries. （ APR.15, 2020）  You can request help via the CTLT website (Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology) after you log in to “MyWaseda”:http://www.wnpspt.waseda.jp/student/learnanywhere/