Address at the 2022 Graduate School
To all those who have been admitted to Kochi University, congratulations on your admission. On behalf of the current students, faculty, and staff, I extend our warmest congratulations and a heartfelt welcome.
ご家族の皆さま、おめでとうございます。連日、コロナ禍と背中合わせの苦しい生活が続く中、晴れて大学生・大学院生を送り出されたこと、皆さまと共に心からお喜び申し上げます。
Starting today, you have become part of Kochi University—in other words, members of “Team Kochi University.” Everyone in Team Kochi University is both a friend and family, encouraging one another and striving together to improve.
高知大学は、地域に根差し、地域と共に発展することで、不断に進化する国立大学 “Super Regional University”を目指しています。これまでに、Super Regional Universityとなるためのエンジンを備えるために組織改革に取り組み続け、学部、修士課程そして、今年の四月からは新しい博士課程もスタートします。近く、校友会も設立予定です。みんなで高知大学を盛り上げていきましょう。
Now then, how do you new students view the COVID-19 pandemic? I imagine many of you feel it’s like a massive wall standing in the way of your lives. The phrase “break through” perfectly captures the act of shattering this wall and moving past it. Today, I’d like to talk about “break through” based on my experience with reforestation on the island of Borneo in Malaysia. Around the year 2000, I participated in a project aimed at restoring the tropical rainforest ecosystem through reforestation on several dozen hectares of degraded land.I served as the project manager, working in consultation with the local government to collect seeds from the mountains, grow seedlings, transplant 10,000 saplings to the site, and create an ecosystem featuring trees reaching 80 meters in height. However, because this was an unprecedented and ambitious undertaking, there were no established techniques, making it an extremely difficult task. After several years of preparation, just as we had finally finished the transplanting, we were hit by a severe drought—the kind that occurs once every few decades—due to the El Niño phenomenon.We had planted seven different species of trees, but 70% to 90% of the saplings withered and died. It felt like a complete failure. However, in the midst of my anguish, it suddenly dawned on me: this situation, where we were confronted with a harsh natural environment, was one we could never have created on our own. By analyzing the conditions that led to the saplings’ survival or death, we could conduct a large-scale, field-based demonstration experiment. This was, in fact, an opportunity.Subsequently, we were able to share this as valuable data on ecosystem creation experiments with the world. In your future university life, you will likely face various obstacles beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Please do not give up; view everything as an opportunity, continue to hone your skills, and become someone who can achieve a breakthrough.
Society will continue to evolve and develop, with digital transformation at its core. To all of you who will play a leading role in this new era, I have one request. The world is engaged in a wide range of initiatives aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While pursuing your studies at this university, I encourage you to broaden and deepen your global perspective. And I hope you will find a way of life that suits you best.
Please look forward to the continued growth of Kochi University.
And right in the thick of it, make sure to hone your skills.
Let me say it again.
Congratulations on your admission.
Welcome to Super Regional University.
April 3, 2022
Katsutoshi Sakurai, President, Kochi University