Academic Year 2015 Graduate School Entrance Ceremony Address

04.04.2015 Update

Congratulations and welcome to our 307 new graduates! It is a great pleasure to offer my sincere congratulations to you, your families and all those who have supported you in reaching this important milestone. And to all of our guests who have taken time out of their busy schedules to be with us here today, thank you.

Today we are welcoming forty-two international students from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Afghanistan. At this venue, we are flying the flags of the countries of our international students alongside the Japanese national flag. It is the great pleasure of our faculty and staff to welcome students to Ochanomizu University Graduate School from countries all around the world every year. The entire faculty and staff is sincerely delighted to greet those of you who have chosen to pursue a course of study and research here at Ochanomizu University.

After your four years of undergraduate study, or your six years of undergraduate and early graduate study and research, I imagine you have arrived here full of hope and ready to take the next step in your academic career. I hope you will take advantage of the rich learning and research environment of Ochanomizu University to explore and study a variety of fields, and then take what you’ve learned and use it out in the world.

Ochanomizu University faculty and staff will support your efforts and work to improve our university systems and campus facilities to enable all of you who are ambitiously pursuing advanced academic study to continue conducting research and producing results. We encourage you to take good care of your physical and mental health so you can continue to enjoy your studies and research during your time here.

Ochanomizu University was founded in 1875 as Tokyo Women’s Normal School, Japan’s first institution of higher education for women, in the Ochanomizu neighborhood of Tokyo. In the 140 years since, the university has produced many talented women educators and researchers. Launched as a university under the new school system in 1949, it established a graduate school master’s degree program in 1963, followed by a doctoral degree program in 1976.

Ochanomizu University’s graduate school strives to conduct cutting-edge academic research and public education by equipping students with specialized knowledge while also highlighting interdisciplinary perspectives. We also seek to cultivate individuals who can address various issues faced by Japan and the world and help solve real-world problems. To do this, our faculty and staff have developed diverse education and research programs unique to this university, and we continue to develop new academic values. We implemented a 21^st-century Center of Excellence Program and Global COE Program. Today, we are promoting the Program for Leading Graduate Schools to encourage women to earn doctoral degrees and play an active role in working society.

We see about 250 master’s degree students and 60 doctoral degree students complete their degrees each year and take their place in society. Those graduates move into a variety of different positions within companies and research institutes, primary and secondary education, universities, national and public research institutes, national government agencies, prefectural and municipal government offices, courts and other legal institutions. They also enter media outlets such as TV and newspaper companies, independent administrative agencies and social welfare organization