The AY 2022 September Graduate Commencement Ceremony was held from 10:00 on Tuesday, September 20 at the West School Building Hall on Mita Campus. This fall, Keio University conferred a total of 278 graduate degrees (81 doctoral, 180 master's, and 17 professional degrees).
The ceremony began with Vice-President Yoshimitsu Matsuura giving the graduating class report, followed by President Kohei Itoh conferring diplomas to representatives from each graduate school. In his address, delivered in English, President Itoh touched on recent events and applauded the graduates for completing their classes and earning their degrees despite the many obstacles that had arisen during their studies. He exhorted students who were planning to continue their studies to challenge themselves, pursuing research avenues and ideas that "cannot be left unexplored," cooperating and engaging with experts from around the world so that they might broaden the frontiers of academia. At the end of his speech, he said that he looks forward to seeing the future world that the graduates will go on to shape and encouraged them to exhibit the ethos of Keio University so that 30 years from now the world will be a more generous, peaceful, and meaningful place to live. After this speech, Professor Naohisa Yahagi, a Graduate School Committee Member of the Graduate School of Media and Governance delivered a congratulatory address on behalf of Keio's faculty and staff members. The event closed with a performance of Keio's Anthem, the "Juku-ka," by the Wagner Society Male Choir and the Wagner Society Female Chorus.
The AY 2022 September Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony was also held on Mita Campus the same day at 14:00. Keio University conferred a total 324 degrees to graduates. (11 from the Faculty of Letters, 100 from the Faculty of Economics, 67 from the Faculty of Law, 5 from the Faculty of Business and Commerce, 12 from the Faculty of Science and Technology, 62 from the Faculty of Policy Management, and 67 from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies.)
Following the graduating class report, President Itoh presented the student representative with their diploma. After this, Professor Kosuke Oyama of the Faculty of Law delivered a congratulatory address on behalf of the faculty and staff. Then, after the student representative gave a final speech, the choirs who had performed at the Graduate Commencement Ceremony, concluded the ceremony with another performance of the "Juku-ka."
While the weather was less than perfect, the graduate ceremonies and Mita Campus were overflowing with smiles and laughter from the graduates, their families, and their friends as they shared memories and took pictures of their newly obtained degrees.
In order to give the utmost priority to the health and safety of the participants and prevent the spread of COVID-19, invitations were limited to graduates and closely related individuals. The ceremonies were also livestreamed.
*These ceremonies and commemorative photographs were conducted while observing strict infection control measures.