The Autumn Diploma Presentation Ceremony for Academic Year 2025 was held on Friday, September 19, at the SMBC Academia Hall, located in the International Academic Research Building.
This September, diplomas were conferred upon 58 graduating students. The diplomas were presented by the Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy, who offered warm congratulations on their successful completion of the program, joined by members of the GraSPP faculty and staff.
A commendation ceremony for outstanding academic achievement was also held. The Best Performance Award and Outstanding Award were presented to one PhD student and two Master’s program students in recognition of their exceptional performance.
Dean’s Address at the Graduation Ceremony on September 19th 2025 at GraSPP of University of Tokyo
All the students graduating from GraSPP today, congratulations on your effort and dedication over the last two years. I would also like to congratulate your family members who have supported your studies. Their support must have been indispensable.
You graduate from our school with intensive knowledge and now proceed to a new stage. The next stages may be in the government sector, the private sector, or academia pursuing a Ph.D. Regardless of the sector you advance to, the way you use your knowledge will be critically determined by your recognition of who should be the beneficiary of that knowledge. I will explain why this is important, based on my observation of growing anti-elite sentiment in societies around the world.
Across the Pacific, in the United States, President Trump adversely intervened in the administration of top universities by cutting federal subsidies and restricting visa issuance to foreign students. Some intellectuals harshly criticized the President for his unprecedented behavior. However, in my opinion, we should always respect the fact that he was elected through a democratic process and try to understand why his attitude is supported by a majority of the American people. In addition, we should pay careful attention to the fact that the general public is not necessarily sympathetic to elite schools. In my view as a labor economist, a fundamental reason this attitude has emerged is the perception that graduates and academics of elite schools take all the benefits generated from knowledge and reproduce their class over generations, while the power of knowledge does not benefit people outside their circle. This perception is not fully substantiated, as it is well known that the benefits of higher education increase not only the earnings of graduates but also the earnings of people in the same community. At the same time, however, it is a fact that the earnings of the top 0.1 percent have grown quite rapidly in the last four decades, whereas median earnings have stagnated in the U.S. Facing this fact, it is natural that the general public perceives elite schools as serving themselves and not the broader public. Ironically, in rebutting the argument that elite schools monopolize wealth, they often position themselves as defenders of minorities, which further makes the majority feel isolated.
This anti-elite sentiment is also growing in Japan. In my view, one of the reasons why the University of Tokyo is still struggling to be selected as a University for International Research Excellence is that we could not overcome the perception that the university community serves only its close circle and not wider communities or society at large. As graduates of GraSPP at the University of Tokyo, with substantial advantages in terms of knowledge and credentials, all of you must be sensitive to this sentiment of the general public. The University of Tokyo was established about 150 years ago as a school to foster talent that would contribute to modern nation-building, including those who served as government officials. In a sense, GraSPP is a direct descendant of the knowledge powerhouse created by the Meiji government. Following this tradition, the University Charter defines service to global public goods as the University’s mission from the outset. A deep recognition of this mission should guide you in how to use the knowledge acquired at our school. This recognition will affect your career choices and your daily decision-making in your occupations. Your learning process will continue after graduating from our school, and I hope that many of you will, in 20 or 30 years’ time, encounter the moment when you feel that the knowledge and skills you acquired are truly for the public good.
Once again, congratulations on the successful completion of our program. I hope that prosperous careers lie ahead for all of you.
Daiji Kawaguchi
Dean
Graduate School of Public Policy