2024 Fall Induction Ceremony：President's Address

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the autumn 2024 Shizuoka University induction ceremony for our undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. A hearty greeting to you all.

I would first like to extend my sincere congratulations to the 15 undergraduates, 48 graduate students, and 21 doctoral candidates who could join us today. I also want to congratulate your families and those who have supported you.

Many students here today have been admitted to undergraduate and graduate courses on various paths, including those in the Asia Bridge Program (ABP). We started this program nine years ago at the request of companies in Shizuoka Prefecture. Many of these firms are expanding throughout Asia, so they need talented individuals to act as a bridge with their local employees. Therefore, these companies have made significant donations to establish scholarship programs to provide financial support for our ABP students. Fortunately, many ABP graduates have found positions at these companies, succeeding as expected.

The ABP has also been indisputably groundbreaking for Shizuoka University, both in the corporate support the program has had from the beginning and the unprecedented, exceptionally diverse educational and research environment it has fostered.

Thanks to the ABP, the international students joining the university today will work together with Japanese students in their classes and research activities. I hope you will actively engage with your Japanese peers, build strong friendships, and help to further increase Shizuoka University’s diversity.

Unfortunately, 2020 marked the start of roughly three and a half years when COVID-19 hindered students worldwide from moving freely across borders and building close relationships with people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds through mutual exchange. Since last year, however, significant changes have alleviated the situation and limited COVID-19’s impact. Thanks to this turn of events, we can now cross national borders to visit our neighbors. The moment we have waited for has truly arrived. I sincerely hope that all of you will develop various initiatives to create a better future for humanity during your time at universities that fully guarantee educational and research rights.

We face a mountain of problems that require elusive solutions. All aspects of society in the 21st century await those who boldly take up the challenge and find solutions to such issues. Many of the problems confronting us today are incredibly complex and multifaceted. Thus, solutions stemming from isolated disciplines alone cannot address them. To deal with such intractable problems, we must go beyond individual specialties and collaborate with various academic disciplines. Society looks to us for solutions to the myriad difficulties impacting the modern world, including, for instance, measures to deal with the global climate change we are currently facing, measures to correct the social and economic disparities that are occurring in many regions, solutions to conflicts occurring in various parts of the world, and responses to nuclear threats. Addressing these issues will require going beyond a mono-disciplinary focus and moving toward interdisciplinary collaboration. In other words, we should seek solutions by mobilizing experts in all academic disciplines.

I hope you will challenge yourselves to break down the boundaries between the humanities and the sciences as you advance your studies and research at Shizuoka University. Naturally, you will depend on your expertise in your research. Still, I hope you will expand your studies to include fields you think are unrelated to your specialties. Even if you are not interested in an academic field and do not think you need to learn it now, you will find that you can apply any subject to your specialty once you direct your interest toward it. I believe it is crucial that you have this approach to learning. Pursuing such efforts should greatly expand the scope of your research and the potential for significant advancements. I sincerely hope you will use the comprehensive knowledge you cultivate through your studies at Shizuoka University to find clues to solving the global issues humanity faces.

At Shizuoka University, you will be free to pursue your research according to the problems that interest you and communicate your academic and research findings to society. In other words, at Shizuoka University, we value your inquisitive spirit and creative exploration. Research and initiatives considered “useless” at one time may gain significant value in our changing society. I hope that during your time at Shizuoka University, where we respect each individual’s approach to inquiry, you will reject passivity and actively pursue many challenges.

You will now live in Japan and, by extension, at one of our campuses in Hamamatsu or Shizuoka cities for several years to come. Naturally, you will live in an environment that differs from your home countries, so many things may be confusing to you, including language, religion, or customs. However, I hope that you will enjoy this opportunity and experience as much of the Japanese language and culture as possible. Your new home in Shizuoka Prefecture is blessed with natural splendor and a rich history and culture that are fascinating to many. I wholeheartedly look forward to you all leading active student lives in such an outstanding environment.

In closing today, I congratulate each of you who has chosen to pursue your academic journey at Shizuoka University.