To all of you who have completed your studies at the Graduate School of Kochi University and been awarded your degrees, I offer my heartfelt congratulations and express my high hopes for your future.
What does the society into which you are about to step expect of you?
　Society welcomes you with the expectation that you have acquired the fundamental intellectual skills through your studies at this prestigious institution. Specifically, society expects you to carry out activities that are considered routine in an intellectual society—namely, identifying problems, devising plans to solve them, conducting experiments, analyzing the results from a contemporary perspective, and presenting these findings to the world.

　While today is a difficult time for young people seeking employment, there has never been a time when the shortage of talent has been so loudly emphasized. To confront head-on this peculiar reality—observed not only in Japan but throughout the international community—and to create a new social order for the 21st century, we cannot do so without the healthy energy of your youth, which has mastered the fundamentals of intellectual work mentioned at the outset.

　As true elites who have graduated from this prestigious institution, I look forward to seeing you succeed in every field, approaching your work with deep reflection rather than being swayed by frivolity. With these words, I conclude my address as president.

March 23, 2012
National University Corporation Kochi University
President Yusuke Sagara

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