Graduation and Entrance Ceremonies at Soka University, Women’s College and Soka Schools
Soka University graduates strolling on their campus on graduation day (Hachioji, March 18, 2021)
During March and April 2021, the Soka Schools in Tokyo and Kansai
and Soka University and Soka Women’s College in Hachioji, Tokyo, held
down-sized graduation and entrance ceremonies at their respective campuses,
exercising distancing and other safety measures to guard against the spread of
COVID-19. SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, founder of these institutions, sent
messages and poems in celebration.
Commencement ceremonies were held for the Tokyo and Kansai Soka
Schools and Sapporo Soka Kindergarten on March 16 and for the 47th class of
Soka University and the 35th class of Soka Women’s College on March 18. In his
messages, Mr. Ikeda called on graduates to contribute to humanity and to
building a peaceful world.
On April 2, Soka University held an entrance ceremony that commemorated the school’s 50th anniversary, welcoming students of the 51st graduating class and the 37th graduating class of Soka Women’s College.
Tokyo Soka Senior High School graduates throwing their caps in the air (March 16, 2021)
Soka University’s vision since its founding has been to promote
education that fosters creative individuals who will contribute to humanity’s
happiness and the resolution of global issues, guided by its founding
principles: 1) Be the highest seat of learning for humanistic education; 2) Be
the cradle of a new culture; and 3) Be a fortress for the peace of humankind.
On March 25, Times Higher Education (THE), a British Magazine specializing in
higher education, published its THE World University Ranking Japan Version
2021, ranking Soka University in 9th place in the “internationality” category.
This is the second year it has ranked in the top 10 in this category.
Soka Junior and Senior High Schools and Elementary Schools held
entrance ceremonies at their respective campuses in Tokyo and Kansai on April
8. President Ikeda dedicated a poem to the new students of the Junior and
Senior High Schools and encouraged them to shine as “diamonds of wisdom” and
boldly face difficulties as people of indomitable spirit who will transform the
twenty-first century.
