University for Development and Innovation in Bolivia Confers Honorary Doctorate
Certificate of the honorary doctorate conferred upon Daisaku Ikeda
On July 28, 2023, the University for Development and Innovation (UDI) in Bolivia conferred an honorary doctorate upon Soka University founder Daisaku Ikeda in recognition of his contributions to peace, culture and education. The conferral ceremony took place at Soka University in Hachioji, Tokyo.
UDI, located in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, was founded in 2011, and opened its doors for enrollment in 2012. It promotes teamwork, relationships based on trust, passion for work, continuous improvement and an attitude of service, as its educational values. There are some 1,600 students enrolled in its four schools: Business and Administration; Engineering; Culinary Arts and Tourism; and Computer Science and Telecommunications.
Soka University President Masashi Suzuki
accepted the honorary degree certificate on behalf of Mr. Ikeda. In attendance
were Soka University representatives, faculty and students.
In his acceptance speech, read by Soka
University Board of Trustees Chair Yasunori Tashiro, Mr. Ikeda remarked that
wisdom that leads to human happiness has never been more urgently sought.
Quoting Aristotle’s maxim, “True happiness flows from the possession of
wisdom,” he described UDI as an institution that takes up the vital challenge
of nurturing wisdom that can foster the happiness of oneself and others, social
prosperity and peace.
Mr. Ikeda described himself as a successor of educator Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, who had devoted himself to the development of value-creating humanistic education for the sake of people’s happiness. He declared that he has committed himself wholeheartedly to studying and making widely available this path of humanistic education with the aim of empowering each young person to create hope and victory in their lives, no matter how tumultuous the world may become.
In the citation, UDI Rector José Antonio de Chazal Palomo described Mr. Ikeda’s endeavors to meet the daunting global challenges of the 21st century through his promotion of peace, culture and education, and his emphasis on dialogue. He described Mr. Ikeda’s efforts to establish universities and promote education as foundational to developing a more humane world. Efforts in the field of education, he affirmed, can help bring about a better, more equitable global society where people have greater freedom and where human rights and prosperity are widely enjoyed by all.
Rector de Chazal Palomo has had occasion to present Mr. Ikeda with honorary doctorate degrees on two other occasions—on behalf of the Private University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia and the University of Aquino-Bolivia, in June 1999 and March 2009, respectively—when he was rector of those institutions.
UDI Rector de Chazal Palomo (center left) entrusts the degree certificate to Soka University President Suzuki (center right)
[Adapted from articles in the July 29, 2023, issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, Soka Gakkai, Japan]
