Ritsumeikan University held its commencement and graduate school degree conferral ceremonies over three days. The ceremonies were held on Kinugasa Campus on Monday, March 20, on Osaka Ibaraki Campus and Suzaku Campus on Tuesday, March 21, and on Biwako-Kusatsu Campus on Wednesday, March 22, with a total of 6,663 undergraduate students and 1,240 graduate students starting their new lives.

　This year, we held in-person ceremonies on each of the campuses, and the family members of the graduating students were able to attend.

　The ceremonies began with a video message from the university to the graduating students. After that, President of Ritsumeikan University Yoshio Nakatani presented the undergraduate and graduate student representatives with their diplomas. In his speech, President Nakatani provided the following words of encouragement to the graduating students who were forced to spend most of the last three years at university amid the COVID-19 pandemic: “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.”

Video message for the graduating students

　Flower walls and were erected in each venue so that students could take commemorative photos, and we created an original Ritsumeikan themed augmented reality filter for use on Instagram. The graduating students shared their joy with their families, friends, and faculty members who have supported them during their time at Ritsumeikan by taking photos at the flower walls and using the AR filter on their social media posts, and everywhere on each campus you could see their smiling faces.

　We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our students who graduated. We sincerely hope you will use the experiences you gained at Ritsumeikan as a springboard to the future.

Ritsumeikan University Commencement Ceremony Special Site

https://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/features/graduation2023spring/
Videos of the ceremonies are scheduled to be released on this site in early April.