News

The Autumn 2024 graduation ceremonies for undergraduate students, graduate students and students from the Art and Architecture School were held on Sunday, September 15, at the Waseda Arena on Toyama Campus and simultaneously broadcasted online for all to see. As in previous years, in-person participation was limited to graduating students.

For the academic 2024 year, a total of 766 undergraduate students, 1 from the Art and Architecture School, 552 master’s degree students, professional master’s degree students, and 103 doctoral degree students graduated from Waseda. This made for a grand total of 1,422 students who embarked from Waseda to begin a new chapter of their lives.

During the ceremony, Waseda University President Aiji Tanaka took to the stage to make his address to all graduating students: 

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 waiting for while studying here at Waseda.
We considered inviting family members in addition to graduating students to this graduation, but we were concerned that it would be dangerously congested on the road in front of Waseda Arena.  Consequently, we have been inviting only the actual graduating students to this Arena for the last several years.  We hope you will understand our decision.
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.
After you graduate from Waseda and start working in the real world, you will face many new problems to which no one really has a correct answer or optimal solution, although the scale or the impact of those problems may be smaller than those of the Coronavirus Pandemic or violations of human rights due to armed conflicts.  I hope that you will tackle those new unknown problems and find your own solutions to them.  The tough-mindedness that impels you to think through a problem to arrive at your own solution is what I call “intellectual resilience”.
Please have confidence in what you have learned at Waseda, because you have survived the difficult academic environment brought on by the Coronavirus Pandemic.  You can go out into the world and live well with this confidence. Even after you graduate, please come visit your alma mater.  We are looking forward to welcoming you back, you who will be evermore brilliantly shining, to an evermore brilliantly shining Waseda.

President Aiji Tanaka’s full address (English translation)

Next, Akira Mandai, Executive Chairman of the Waseda University Alumni Association, delivered a congratulatory address: 

With your graduation today, all of you without exception will become alumni of Waseda University and members of the WUAA. I would 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. This alumni association was originally founded in 1885 immediately after the first students graduated from Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the predecessor of Waseda University. Sharing our history and thoughts of our alma mater, we celebrate the 139th anniversary of our foundation this year. The basic policy of the WUAA’s activities is to provide support for our alma mater and for the current students who are our juniors and to build networks and friendships among Waseda alumni. Our current organization has its headquarters within the university. Headed by Waseda University President Aiji Tanaka, the WUAA is managed by approximately 60 chairpersons. Every year, we provide 200 to 300 million yen to support current university students, mainly through scholarships, and for various kinds of alma mater support.
At present we have about 680,000 alumni. 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 680,000 alumni is the pride of Waseda.
In the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games that ended recently, in addition to current Waseda students, many of our alumni competed in various events and performed brilliantly, some of them winning medals. Our alumni are active not only in sports, but in all kinds of fields both in Japan and throughout the world, making a significant contribution to society. They include business people and executives, prime ministers, community organizers, politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers and judicial officers, writers, artists, doctors, and members of the media. This diversity of our alumni is also the power and pride of Waseda.
Finally, let me reiterate the WUAA’s slogan: “To the world together, toward the future together.” Graduates of Waseda, spread your wings and soar high out into the world and toward the future!

For Executive Chairman Akira Mandai’s full address

*The above quotes are translations by the author based on the original Japanese article.  

Graduation Album

Full Graduation Ceremony on September 15, 2024