Happy new year, everyone.
We sincerely hope that 2024 will be a fruitful and wonderful year for all of you.

In this day and age, we find ourselves surrounded by a wide range of issues. Japan needs to urgently address the various social issues it faces, such as a declining and greying population, the falling birthrate, widening disparities between rural and urban areas, declining international competitiveness, and aging social infrastructure. On the other hand, innovative technological advances represented by generative AI and IoT are driving the digital transformation (DX) in a diverse array of fields. In addition, society is undergoing a major transformation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a growing emphasis on wellbeing that stresses health and a sense of purpose in life in addition to economic and material wealth.

Universities are expected to play a role in solving these social issues and in guiding and accelerating change for a better future. For example, the Package for Comprehensive Promotion of Regional Core and Distinctive Research Universities decided by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI) of the Cabinet Office calls for universities to solve global social issues and spearhead change as a driving force in society.
In order for universities to function as hubs for social change "where knowledge and human talent accumulate,” they must first undergo a fundamental transformation themselves. At Ritsumeikan, we need to bolster our distinctive strengths, especially our research capacity, which is the source of these strengths, and feed them back into more advanced education. We also need to create new value through practical applications including industry-academia-government collaborations and startup creation and develop the talent who will lead the next generation of society.

With the motto of “Challenge Your Mind, Change Our Future,” Ritsumeikan established a vision that paints a picture of what we want to become in the year 2030. Carrying out and elaborating upon the R2030 Challenge Design—a mid-term plan grounded in the pillars of becoming a next-generation research university, a university that creates innovation and produces emerging talent, and a university that promotes new kinds of globalization—is the act of transforming Ritsumeikan, that is, evolving into a new kind of university that responds to the demands of society and the times. Considering the challenges we must tackle up through 2030, 2024 marks the phase in which we will look ahead to the second half of the vision, more clearly define the vision we should aim to realize, and steadily implement and accelerate each and every initiative.

This April, Ritsumeikan will relocate the College and Graduate School of Image Arts and Sciences and the College and Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering, all of which are rooted in digital technology, to Osaka Ibaraki Campus (OIC). Ritsumeikan has been selected for the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s Digital Infrastructure Development Project for the Digital Transformation of Industries (Research and Development of Mechanisms to Ensure Safety and Reliability in Complex Systems) for an initiative that aims to achieve coexistence among humans, robots, and AI, and this is already being implemented at OIC. We will update OIC to become a social platform appropriate for the Society 5.0 era, and we will apply the outcomes achieved there to our other campuses.
In addition, the Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2024. BKC has been selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for the Project to Establish Facilities for Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration and Joint Research through Cooperation among Core Regional and Distinctive Research Universities and by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for the Development of Incubation and Industry-Academia Fusion Centers at Core Regional Universities. In this way, we will deepen the research in the field of health, longevity, and quality of life (QOL) that we have primarily accumulated at BKC and further expand upon the creation of regional innovation through industry-academia-government collaboration.

Furthermore, 2025 marks the 155th anniversary of the founding of Ritsumeikan and the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Ritsumeikan Academy. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us get to where we are today. As we continue to transform into a next-generation research university and a next-generation inquiry-based learning academy, we will strive to establish a global presence and contribute to society by leveraging our capacity for advanced research and education.

We look forward to serving you again this year.

Tomomi Morishima, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees
Yoshio Nakatani, Chancellor
The Ritsumeikan Trust


January 1, 2024