News

From July 22 to 23, 2024, President Tanaka paid a courtesy visit to the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Accompanied by Professor Mari Sako, Waseda’s Vice President for Global University Strategy and Management and a professor at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, President Tanaka engaged in discussions with several leaders and officials from the University of Oxford, including Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey.

On July 22, President Tanaka met with Jack Edmondson (CIO) and Jim Wilkinson (CFO) of Oxford Science Enterprises, as well as Associate Dean Kathy Harvey of Saïd Business School, and members of the Entrepreneurship Centre (Callum Usher-Dodd, Arif Wani, Michael Hutson). They discussed how the University of Oxford has addressed the challenge of building an innovation ecosystem and successfully achieved this goal. Tetsuya Yamamoto, CEO and General Partner, and Satoko Ohno, CFO and Partner, of Waseda University Ventures, Inc. (WUV) also participated in these discussions. Additionally, President Tanaka met with founding members of Tres Alchemix Ltd., a venture company established by young researchers who graduated from the University of Oxford and are originally from Japan, to learn about the company’s initiatives.

On July 23, President Tanaka had a meeting with Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey, where he explained that Waseda has modeled itself after Oxford since its founding and views Oxford as a crucial benchmark for its future transformative initiatives. He expressed his desire to further strengthen the links between the two universities. President Tanaka also met with senior officials, including Professor Chas Bountra (Pro Vice-Chancellor for Innovation), Professor Timothy Power (Head of Social Sciences Division), and Dr. Stephen Conway (Executive Director of Research Services), to exchange views on the University of Oxford’s initiatives in research, education, and innovation. He also visited New College, one of the oldest colleges at Oxford, and attended a dinner hosted by Warden Miles Young, where he learned about the history and current state of the college.

This visit provided a valuable opportunity to gain insights into how the University of Oxford has achieved excellence not only in research and education but also in other areas such as innovation, while preserving tradition and implementing organizational changes. It also marked an important step towards further strengthening the relationship between the two universities.

President Tanaka and Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey

President Tanaka and Professor Timothy Power, Head of Social Sciences Division

At New College: Vice President Sako, Warden Miles Young and President Tanaka

At Oxford Science Enterprises: Tetsuya Yamamoto of WUV, Jack Edmondson, Jim Wilkinson, President Tanaka, Vice President Sako, and Satoko Ohno of WUV

Members of Tres Alchemix Ltd.: Ellen Zunker, Dr. Takuma Morimoto, President Tanaka, Dr. Hisashi Hashimoto, and Dr. Masato Inoue