Reflecting on the Year 2020

Dear Students of Waseda University,

December 22, 2020

Today being the last day of classes in 2020 at Waseda University, I would like to send you a few reflections upon the year we have just gone through.

It is hard to overstate the negative impact of COVID-19 on all of us. No doubt, of course, it has been significantly harder for you students than us, the faculty members and administrative staff. We have immense sympathy for what you’ve had to endure, and deep respect for your forbearing.

COVID-19 is still spreading throughout Japan, more extensively and with greater speed than ever. Since you will take final exams in January for which you are beginning to prepare, please protect yourselves from the virus.

As you know, we moved all classes online in the spring semester for your safety. Even in the autumn semester, only a small portion of courses met face-to-face, with more than 80 percent of courses remaining online. We feel sorry for any attenuation in your classroom experience that you experienced, but we had to place the highest priority on your safety and health.

This past autumn we permitted physical attendance in classrooms with a capacity of 4 times as many as class size. That means, for example, a classroom with a capacity of 200 students could accommodate a class of 50 students. Since more than 80 percent of classrooms at Waseda hold no more than 50 students, we had an insufficient number of very large classrooms and were therefore forced to keep many lecture classes online. I should have explained to you much earlier this reason for keeping so many classes online this autumn. I apologize for my delay in explaining to you the difficulty Waseda University has faced this year.

In the new academic year beginning in April 2021, we are aiming to offer about 70 percent of classes in person, and about 30 percent of classes online. In August we replaced many older air conditioning systems with new ones that can circulate 30 cubic meters per hour per person. We are now in the process of replacing new air conditioning systems for all remaining classrooms in order to provide a safe environment for high school students sitting for entrance examinations in February, and for our own students as they return to campus in the spring.

Depending on the evolving circumstances surrounding COVID-19, we will decide how to proceed in the coming academic year. Please stay tuned for our announcements. You can be sure that we are doing our very best to increase the number of in-person classes while ensuring your safety.

Thank you for continuing to wear masks, washing your hands frequently, gargling, and measuring your temperature and so on. Thank you, too, for refraining from parties and group dinners. We appreciate all you are doing to protect yourselves and others.

I close by sending my very best wishes for pleasant winter holidays. Above all—and I wish this for you ardently—Happy New Year!

Aiji Tanaka, President
Waseda University