News

On Saturday, March 25 and Sunday, March 26, 2023, 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 2022, a total of 8,081 undergraduate students, 38 from the Art and Architecture School, 1,930 master’s degree students, 463 professional master’s degree students, and 176 doctoral degree students graduated from Waseda. This made for a grand total of 10,688 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 to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection. 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 was held to congratulate students and groups with outstanding achievements in the areas of Academics and Sports. There were 11 Academic awards and 32 Sports awards given out this year. 

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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 waiting for while studying here at Waseda.

Graduation is supposed to be an occasion at which not only graduating students but also their parents and relatives gather and celebrate together. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year too we had to reduce the size of graduation and invite the graduating students only. We regret having to take these measures. 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.

I know that all of you, this year’s graduating students, must have many special thoughts, because you suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic over the last three years. It was our great regret that you have not been able to enjoy normal campus life for three years since your sophomore year. However, you have been patient and controlled yourselves so well that no cluster infections have occurred in class. I really appreciate your cooperation and self-discipline.

Some of you might feel that you lost three years that should have been the most fruitful of your student life at Waseda. Please do not think that your experiences of this coronavirus pandemic had only a negative impact, but rather that your difficult experiences with the pandemic have developed you as a human being. You will be stronger and more resilient than other generations of Waseda alumni, precisely because—in contrast to other generations—your generation has experienced a devastating pandemic while young and studying.

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. 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 a solution is what I call “intellectual resilience.”

At Waseda, you have learned how to use your own brain and think thoroughly. In order to do this, it is important to learn from the scholarship of thinkers who have come before us. Ever since the invention of a writing system over 5,000 years ago, human beings have recorded and compiled the essence of their experiences in the form of scholarship. Respect scholarship. Scholarship does not provide answers to unknown new problems, but it records how human beings confronted unknown problems in their own day. By learning about these human efforts, you have gained relevant knowledge at Waseda with which to address new problems yet to arise.

Be confident about what you have learned at Waseda. And be proud of the fact that you completed your studies and your student life at Waseda even during the hardship of the coronavirus pandemic. You have a bright future in front of you.

Even after you graduate, please come back to visit your alma mater. Our doors are always open to you. We look forward to seeing you again as you become ever-more impressive; and for our part, we strive to make Waseda University an ever-more shining alma mater of which you can be proud.

Congratulations on your graduation, our newest alumni!

For the full speech in English, click here.

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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) 

All of you who are graduating today must have taken great pains to continue your student lives over the past three years. For these reasons, my heart is especially full to be celebrating and delivering my message on behalf of the Alumni Association to you today.

During the pandemic, the WUAA called on its members to donate to the COVID-19 Student Emergency Assistance Fund. In response, alumni from all over Japan and many from abroad showed their generosity in donating more than 800 million yen over the course of a year. This money was used to provide financial assistance to current students.

The Alumni Association has inherited a great tradition, and we hope to continue to stand alongside Waseda University, a place we consider our home, with many of you as our members, as we carry on the spirit of these important words: “To the world together, toward the future together.” Those of you graduating from Waseda University today are facing a situation that no one has ever experienced before: a future without answers. At present, the world is not only fighting the coronavirus, but we are also in a time of major political, economic, social change and safety guarantee as well as great uncertainty. However, it is precisely because we live in such an era that we need individuals who can take on new challenges and be innovative, without being hampered by any preconceived ideas. Waseda University graduates are exactly such individuals. They are active in their local communities while also working on the world stage as global leaders.

As you begin your journey, you may experience joyful and happy moments but also great difficulties that may cause pain and sadness. Nevertheless, you are headed toward a bright future. Please apply the intellectual resilience and flexible sensitivity that you have developed at Waseda University. Take pride in the fact that you have studied here and demonstrate an enterprising spirit as you venture out into wider society. I urge you to move and inspire people wherever you go in Japan, no, wherever you go in the world, and become someone capable of making a significant global contribution.

Even after you graduate and leave the Waseda nest, the University’s spirit will be embedded in your DNA. The 670,000 alumni who have graduated from Waseda and who are active all over the world, are of one mind. The WUAA welcomes you wherever you are, as our network extends throughout Japan and into a variety of countries and regions worldwide. As you begin your career, feel free to utilize the resources that the WUAA has to offer.

Lastly, please remember that your alma mater and fellow alumni will always be by your side cheering you on. We hope that, in the future, you will be the ones warmly supporting and cheering for Waseda’s students of tomorrow.

The WUAA’s slogan is: “To the world together, toward the future together.” In that spirit, please take a leap, spread your wings, and soar high as you take on the world and step into the future.

For the full speech in English, click here.

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Graduation Album

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Waseda Live

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

March 25, 2023 (Sat), 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

March 25, 2023 (Sat), 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; Waseda Business School (Graduate School of Business and Finance)

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March 26, 2023 (Sun), 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

March 26, 2023 (Sun), 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