At this 69th Commencement Ceremony and Graduate School Commencement Ceremony for AY 2020, it gives me great pleasure to offer my heartfelt congratulations to this year's graduating students.

It is quite unfortunate that the ongoing coronavirus crisis has brought about this unconventional, scaled-down commencement ceremony for the class of 2020. Given lingering concerns and restrictions on large public gatherings, changes have been made on the venue - the university auditorium - to accommodate only a select few student representatives from different faculties and graduate schools to receive their respective diplomas on behalf of all the graduates. The official presence of our university board members, including myself, the vice presidents, and the faculty deans are indeed privileged to witness this momentous occasion. For those who are not able to attend the ceremony with us in-person, the event can be viewed in its entirety virtually courtesy of YouTube live stream. I also wish to honor all students joining us virtually and to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the students' guardians and faculty members who have guided and instructed them all along. Let me also add that following this ceremony in the afternoon, there will be a number of celebrations which have been carefully prepared by your juniors, teachers, and well-wishers in your faculties and graduate schools. I encourage all the graduates to join in the celebration and wish for your success as you embark on a new chapter in your life.

Gifu University which was founded in 1949, and embarked on a new chapter through the establishment of a new institutional framework bringing together Gifu University and Nagoya University under a single corporate entity called the "Tokai National Higher Education and Research System." on April 1, 2020. In this regard, the class of 2020 marks the first graduating cohort under this new framework, but also the 69th commencement ceremony in the history of Gifu University.

The University's history can be traced back to 1873 when Gifu Prefectural Normal School was established. Throughout our 148-year history, many of our outstanding alumni have gone on to lead active roles in various educational, corporate/industrial, and governmental fields in Japan and overseas. Some of our alumni have assumed such prominent posts as executive members of global business entities, leaders in cutting-edge enterprises, mayoral posts, and university presidents overseas. Our faculties and graduate schools are highly rated nationwide and internationally owing to the significant contributions made by our alumni. All of you who have earned your well-deserved degrees from this distinctive institution today will follow the path paved by your forerunners and also play your part in your own field of expertise in society in the future. As you seek to carve your roles, please remember the following two advice: one is to maintain both global and regional perspectives; and the other is to have the courage to venture into unknown areas by contributing new knowledge and becoming pioneers in your own right.

Regarding global and regional perspectives, let me offer a guiding principle quoted from the Tokai National Higher Education and Research System: "Regions for the world, and the world for the regions." Under this principle, we aim to become not only the core base for regional revitalization, but also an educational and research hub for Japan and the world. Let this be your guiding principle no matter where you are or what developmental stage you have reached. Education is the foundational support of every nation. Of course, the focus of education in various academic disciplines evolves with time, and the preponderance of each field within the entire academic landscape will continue to change. Naturally, changes apply not only in education and work but also a wide range of things in life. Therefore, it is essential to further advance the fields in which you excel, identify positions on matters that require collaboration, and determine how tasks can be shared. Moreover, do not limit yourself to viewing things from the perspective of one local area or country, but be willing to expand your frame of reference from a global perspective. Consider the social contributions and impact you can make not only locally but also globally.

As members of the younger generation in this country, you are probably aware that the most serious problems facing Japan are the decline in the birth rate, the increase in the aging population, and the ramifications these issues have on our regional communities. These are problems that all developed countries will confront sooner or later, and Japan can serve as a forerunner in modeling solutions and opportunities for an aging society. The key to finding solutions and initiatives for these social issues requires various criteria for evaluating their successes or failures, where diverse points of view come into play. For instance, when we consider that some people in Japan prefer to live alongside their families in the region where they were born and raised, it is essential to meet the needs of those people through the provision of job opportunities, medical services, and social welfare. Additionally, educational enrichment is imperative for encouraging lifelong learning habits among residents in localized regions. Creative and workable solutions can only be derived through assessing situations from both regional and global standpoint.

As you proceed to the next stage of your working life, do not allow failure to hamper the goals you have set, but strive on to move forward. A great business leader in the Showa era once said, "Even if you experience a failure, if you ultimately attain your goals, that will not have been a failure." I'd like to also share a quote from a passage from my favorite novel. A man asked his junior who suffered a great setback, "What will you do next?" The junior replied, "I will start it all over again and again." His resolve is a real embodiment of the aforementioned comment by the great business leader. Being a successful leader also calls for the value and necessity of observation in order to comprehensively and properly think through various aspects. Using research as an example, a British scientist taught me, "Thinking, thinking, thinking, and one experiment." I want you to have an intrepid fighting spirit, but also mature, well-considered ideas. The message from Professor Toshihide Masukawa, the theoretical physicist who was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics, was especially directed toward university students. I had the honor to talk with him in 2017, and he told me, "Young people should have aspirations, dreams and hopes. Your constant, strenuous efforts to attain them will be a driving force for growth." and let me assert that inspirational message to all of you today.

All our graduates today have successfully gone through the fundamentals of applied sciences in the various departments and graduate schools of Gifu University. Remember that the process of critical thinking you have acquired in school are not simply defined in the narrow confines of your respective discipline, but they can be extended broadly to other equally important disciplines as humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. With the learning and skills you have gained at Gifu University, I encourage you to maintain lofty goals and a pioneering spirit as you begin to make contributions to society, the international community, furthermore, humankind at large. I sincerely hope and pray that all of you will be able to attain and enjoy a measure of success toward achieving your respective goals now and in the future.

Again, I extend my sincere congratulations to you.

March 25, 2021

Hisataka Moriwaki
President, Gifu University

---