NEWS

On Friday, September 21, 2018, the Fall Entrance Ceremony was held at B-con Plaza in Beppu City, welcoming 659 new students from around the world.

This fall the University welcomes 471 undergraduate students (51 domestic and 420 international), 81 graduate students (4 domestic and 77 international) and 107 short-term and exchange students (17 domestic and 90 international) from 57 countries and regions. (as of September 21, 2018)

President DEGUCHI Haruaki welcomed the new entrants and offered encouragement: “Welcome! Congratulations on your admission! On behalf of everyone at APU, I want to take this opportunity to welcome all of the families and friends here today, and to congratulate you on the admission of your new APU students. Just last month I had the honor of presenting an honorary doctorate to the prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. In his acceptance speech, Dr. Mahathir spoke of how important it is for young people all over the world to get to know each other. He said that if we are going to have good relations between countries, we must know each other. That if we know each other better, then the chances of conflict between countries will be far less, and even if there are conflicts, there will be opportunities for people who know each other to settle their conflicts not through violence and wars but through negotiations, through arbitration, or maybe through a court of law. I agree with the prime minister, that getting to know each other can lead to mutual understanding and to a more peaceful world. I also believe that meeting people is a valuable part of learning. I like to say that three of the best ways to learn are people, books, and travel. As human beings, we get smarter with experience, and some of the best ways to gain experience is by meeting many people, reading many books, and traveling far and wide.”

―――President Deguchi’s full comments can be found here.―――

FAYYAZ Sadman (College of International Management, Bangladesh) addressed the audience on behalf of current students.

HARIHARAN Dwithi (College of Asia Pacific Studies, Barbados) and ABDULLAH Faroq Moohialdin Hamid (Graduate School of Management Master’s Program, Yemen) then spoke on behalf of the undergraduate and graduate new entrants respectively.

Speaking on behalf of the new undergraduate students, Ms. HARIHARAN Dwithi shared her aspirations for the future: “We all made the decision to come to APU to further our education and to improve our career prospects in the future. I personally was attracted to APU because of the unique diversity of the campus. Being able to communicate and share opinions and ideas with people from all around the world will be an exhilarating experience that will only motivate me to learn more about the world we live in. As students at APU, we can set a multicultural foundation that will allow us to better our global society. I believe that exposing myself to such a wide variety of cultures, languages and personalities will allow me to build a mentality that is sensitive to issues around the world, enabling me to help solve them...Above all, we should never doubt ourselves or regret any decisions that we make. No matter the outcome, there will always be something we can learn from the experience. I hope that I can learn from all of you, and in turn, I hope that I can teach you something about and effectively represent the small country I come from. Let us take pride and be passionate about everything that we do, and most of all, let us never underestimate our talents, our abilities, or the effect that we can have on others and the world.”

Mr. ABDULLAH Faroq Moohialdin Hamid then spoke on behalf of the new entrants to the graduate school: “Of course, the diversity of APU was the most attractive aspect that initially compelled us all to apply. But there is something else about this place that actually brought us here. And I personally believe that “this something” is APU’s mission of “Freedom, Peace and Humanity”. When I saw this mission, immediately a voice inside me echoed “This is an extraordinary place!” I followed this voice in my head because I trust my intuitions. And now here I am in this beautiful ceremony, representing my classmates... So here we are in the beginning of our journeys. There will be many challenges, ups and downs, difficulties, assignments but of course fun. We will work together as a team, helping one another, understanding each other and coming to terms with our roles as leaders. We are all here to shape our world. Let’s roll up our sleeves, keep the coffee flowing and take a deep breath. Things have just gotten started.”

Many current students also came along to the ceremony to welcome the new entrants to APU and enjoyed the colorful performances that followed, including a traditional Indonesian dance and a Japanese dance performance.

The Entrance ceremony was streamed on Facebook Live.