Congratulations, New Students! (2025 Entrance Ceremony)
April 5, 2025
On Saturday the 5th of April, the 2025 Academic Year Entrance Ceremony was held.
TUFS welcomed 353 new students (including 11 transfer students) to the School of Language and Culture Studies, 356 (including 5 transfer students) to the School of International and Area Studies, 88 (including 1 transfer students) to the School of Japan Studies, 151 into the Master’s and Doctoral Programs of the Graduate School of Global Studies – a grand total of 948 new students.
- 2025 Entry Ceremonial Address from the President (for postgraduate students)(In preparation)
2025 Entry Ceremonial Address from the President (for undergraduate students)
Welcome to Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Let me speak in English. I know that most of you will major in a language other than English. And I can tell you that your proficiency in that language will become an advantage throughout your life. But if you lack proficiency in English, that is a disadvantage in the global society. No matter what your major is, all of you should be highly proficient in English.
I will start with a few questions. Actually, I will ask you questions throughout my speech. My intention is to make you think of how to make the most of your four or more years in this university.
Why did you decide to study at a university? And why did you choose this university in particular?
I would like you to think over such questions and be aware of your own choice.
Why? Because making choices is probably the most difficult part of life and you will have to make difficult life choices and career choices a number of times throughout your life. Especially because we are living in a difficult era.
People say that we are living in the age of VUCA: “V” “U” “C” “A.” These four letters stand for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
I am not only thinking of instability in international relations: wars in Ukraine and Palestine, uneasy relations between China and the United States. Take a longer-term perspective. Is the global food supply sustainable? Is the energy supply sustainable? How about the climate? Is Japanese society sustainable? If we are losing sustainability, we have to change our society. We have to change our ways of living. Therefore, our future is uncertain and ambiguous. Our path towards the future is volatile and complex. This is what people mean by saying that we live in the age of VUCA.
If we are living in such a volatile and uncertain age, the life paths and career paths taken by our predecessors will not be available to us. If you cannot simply follow your predecessors, you will have to discover your own path and make your own choices. You will probably ask your parents, friends, and teachers for advice. But you have to be responsible for your own choices. That is why you should always be aware of the choices and decisions you make.
And if the future is so volatile, you will have to make life choices and career choices more than once or twice throughout your life. You will have to be flexible. You will have to be flexible enough to change your prior choices later.
Let me give you another question here. How can you prepare yourself to make choices independently with confidence? What do you think you need?
You may think otherwise, but I think that you should know the options available to you beforehand. I suggest that you be open-minded. You should broaden your horizons and open your mind to various ideas to know what options are available to you.
To sum up what I have said so far, I believe that you should know your options, make your own choice, but be ready to change that prior choice later to pave your way through the age of volatility and uncertainty.
Let me move on to another question. How can you develop such a determined yet flexible mindset?
I will give you three suggestions.
Firstly, how about meeting and communicating with people from diverse backgrounds? You will certainly gain a lot of knowledge and receive a lot of ideas.
To meet various people, you have to step out of your comfort zone. And to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds, you need a common language. By majoring in a foreign language, you will expand your reach. With high proficiency in English, your reach will expand even further. This is why I am talking to you in English today.
We have students from 19 countries and regions, including Japan, entering the School of Japan Studies today. They are from Morocco, Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, the United States of America, and Vietnam. If we add graduate students and exchange students, we have students from about 80 countries currently studying on our campus. You can communicate with all of them in English.
Make the most of the environment you have. We offer a large number of courses taught in English. Not only courses for brushing up your English skills. Take courses taught in English. You will meet students from all over the world in such classes. Join the class discussion. And talk with your classmates whenever you meet them outside class on and off campus.
Secondly, I encourage you to take every opportunity to challenge yourself. Do not be afraid of making errors. I believe that it is your privilege as a student that you can repeat errors without much fear of the consequences. You are in a learning process. You are supposed to make errors. By repeating trial and error, you will learn what works and what doesn’t, what fits your interest and what doesn’t.
Studying abroad, or ryūgaku in Japanese, is a great challenge. Every year about 500 students go abroad to study at a partner university overseas for one or two semesters.
We offer tougher challenges: dual degree programs. By studying abroad for more than one year at a partner university and meeting the graduation requirements there, you will obtain two bachelor’s degrees upon graduation from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The second degree will add international credibility to your academic skills. We have set up such dual degree programs with the University of Central Lancashire, the University of Melbourne, and Rio de Janeiro State University.
Of course, the completion requirements are demanding. But, as I mentioned earlier, do not be afraid of failing. If the challenge is too difficult, come back without a second degree. We will always welcome you warmly and with respect.
I will move on to my third suggestion. Why not think of studying at this university for more than four years?
Elevating language proficiency and communication skills, preparing for studying abroad, gathering knowledge and developing ideas, trying ideas in practice. Going through such a multi-stage process will take time. Actually, the great majority of our students spend more than five years before graduating. But that is not something to worry about. Those who study longer than the standard period find success after graduation. The knowledge and experience gained in the longer term of study outweighs the disadvantage, if any, of graduating a little older.
If studying for five years is not a disadvantage, how about studying for six years, including one or two years abroad, and graduating with not only a bachelor’s degree but also a master’s degree? You will gain more knowledge and more experience. You will also enhance your international credibility.
Look at our university website. You will find an interview article of a graduate from our university who is currently working in Palestine for an international NGO. He is now enrolling in an online MA program offered by London University SOAS. He mentions that a master’s degree is a license to work in the humanitarian aid field.
It is time to sum up. To make yourself ready for a volatile and uncertain future, I suggested that you expose yourself to diversity, take on many challenges, and consider extending your period of study to elevate your degree.
If this sounds too individualistic, let me add another suggestion: “Be ambitious!” I will quote a message that was given to the first students at Sapporo Agricultural College (Sapporo Nō-gakkō), the predecessor of Hokkaido University, by Vice Principal, William Smith Clark. The message was given in the 1870s, so I have to adapt his words to the contemporary world.
“Be ambitious! Be ambitious not for money or selfish aggrandizement, not for that evanescent thing which people call fame. Be ambitious for knowledge, for righteousness, and for the uplift of others. Be ambitious for the attainment of all that a person ought to be.”
After preparing yourself for the age of volatility and uncertainty, expand your community and contribute to building a global society that embraces diversity and ensures sustainability.
Your journey starts here. Welcome to Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
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Nobuo HARUNA
President, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
April 5, 2025
2025 Entry Ceremonial Address from the President (for graduate students)
(In preparation)