Graduation Ceremony for Graduate School of Engineering 2018

26 Sep 2018

President Takashi Onishi granted 4 students the Doctoral Degree of Engineering and 13 students the Master's Degree of Engineering on September 25, 2018.

The congratulatory address from President is as follow:

The Congratulatory Address in the Graduation Ceremony,
Takashi ONISHI,
President, Toyohashi University of Technology,
September 25, 2018

I would like to congratulate all of you for the successful completion of your program at the Graduate School of Toyohashi University of Technology.

I understand that you spent a lot of time and made tremendous effort to accomplish your research in your program. This is the day when you feel it has been rewarded. But, at the same time, we have to keep in mind that the graduation is a new start for your next challenge.

It is often pointed out that the only technological innovation can change our society positively. Of course, the source of the technological innovation is scientific knowledge which you learnt here during your study.

Scientific knowledge is useful to create what are beneficial to people' life and society as a whole. I think they are real power to develop the society toward the enlightened future.

You learnt and absorbed a lot of knowledge in this university. Some were taught in lectures or textbooks. They are important of course, because you learnt the systematic structure of the knowledge in an accumulated form based upon historical development of your study fields.

Moreover, the knowledge newly gained by your own research is indispensable, because it is original and has a lot of possibility to create many new things which may be useful in the society.

Of course, you may think it is not enough to obtain knowledge through research conducted for master's or even doctoral theses. That is true particularly in this scientifically well-developed modern society.

But you learnt in this university the methods of research, that is, how to conduct your scientific research. This is your true asset. You may apply the methods which you have been learning here to whatever subjects face you in the future. Whatever problems, whatever questions you have in the future, you can apply the scientific methodology for finding answers to them.

Therefore, I would like you to understand the scientific degrees granted to you today is not the goal of your career but its start. I hope that all of you will improve your scientific and technological ability further and contribute to the society.

Finally, I would like to extend also my congratulatory message to your family members. Without their supports and encouragement, this graduation day would never come to you. Therefore, today's celebration should be shared with the graduates and your families.

The last not the least, I would like to conclude my little speech expressing my thanks to academic advisors of the graduates.

Congratulations, once again. And thank you for your attention.