Congratulations on your graduation! (Graduation Ceremony in March, 2025)

Congratulations to all of you on your graduation. The total number of graduates from our three undergraduate schools this year is 768: 262 students who entered in 2021 are graduating after four years, 409 students who entered in 2020 are graduating after five years, and 63 students who entered in 2019 are graduating after six years.

The percentage of students who graduate in five or six years is the by far the highest among universities around the country, and the fact that these students can proudly enter the mainstream is truly unique to TUFS. Needless to say, the majority of graduates who take more than five years to graduate are studying abroad during their enrollment.

As you can see, there are many aspects of our university that differ from other universities. While studying both your major language and English, or Japanese for international students, in your first and second year, you had to study even more than you did for the entrance examinations. After that, you were faced with the freedom and responsibility of selecting a research seminar from various fields of study. Those of you who were selected to study abroad at a university overseas for a long-term exchange program had to go through a rigorous selection process. Of course, we provided support and assistance, but I am sure that you must have been filled with anxiety when you stood alone at your host university for the first time. We are the only university in Japan where so many undergraduate students leave for universities all over the world, one or two at a time. I am sure that those of you who did not choose to study abroad for a long-term exchange program also had a wide variety of experiences at the university.

I have just painted a scene for you of TUFS in a regular year, but in your case, the first half of your university life was very difficult due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. The Coronavirus Pandemic began in the spring of 2020, and I know that those of you who entered in 2021 were anxiously preparing for your entrance exams; those of you who entered in 2020 did not have an entrance ceremony, and it was only six months later, in October, that you were able to enter the campus as university students. I remember how anxious I was thinking of all of you at home behind your computer screens when we could only contact each other online. The 2021 entrance ceremony was held in separate classrooms, so for today's graduates, this may be your first time attending a ceremony in Prometheus Hall. Many changes happened throughout your time at TUFS: in 2021, a state of emergency was repeatedly declared, vaccinations were rolled out, and the Gaigosai Festival was held in a hybrid format; in 2022, long-term exchange programs were resumed and the