March 27, 2026 TOPICS

AY2025 Ritsumeikan University Commencement Ceremonies and Graduate School Degree Conferral Ceremonies Held

Ritsumeikan University held commencement and graduate school degree conferral ceremonies for the 2025 academic year. The ceremonies were held on Osaka Ibaraki Campus and Suzaku Campus on Friday, March 20, on Kinugasa Campus on Saturday, March 21, and on Biwako-Kusatsu Campus on Sunday, March 22, with a total of 7,280 undergraduate students and 1,462 graduate students starting their new lives.

Undergraduate student representative Kotoku Kubota (College of Letters)

President's Award recipient Makoto Tsuchiya (College of Sport and Health Science)

President Yoshio Nakatani delivers a congratulatory address

A scene from the ceremony on Kinugasa Campus

At each ceremony, President of Ritsumeikan University Yoshio Nakatani presented the undergraduate and graduate student representatives with their diplomas. In his address, President Nakatani sent off the students with a message of encouragement: “Precisely because we find ourselves in uncertain and uneasy times, I hope that you will choose not to fear failure and continue to courageously try new things. Please head into the future with a sense of purpose. It is you, and no one else, who will change the future. If you challenge your mind, I am certain you will be able to pave your own way to a brilliant future. This is precisely what Ritsumeikan's founding spirit of 'freedom and innovation' embodies." President of the Ritsumeikan University Alumni Association Daisaku Kadokawa and other guests were also in attendance to celebrate the new beginnings of the graduating students.

Flower walls and photo spots were erected in each venue so that students could take commemorative photos. The graduating students shared their joy by taking photos with their family members, friends, current students, and faculty members who supported them during their time at Ritsumeikan, and everywhere on each campus you could see their smiling faces.