OMU News

Greetings to all new students enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate schools of Osaka Metropolitan University. Allow me to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you.

Osaka Metropolitan University opened two years ago, making you the third class of OMU students. It is a great pleasure to welcome everyone, from the students and those accompanying them to the many other guests, particularly Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura and Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama, attending this entrance ceremony here at Osaka-Jo Hall, near Osaka Castle. This year 4,409 students are entering Osaka Metropolitan University, with 2,931 undergraduates and 1,478 graduate students. On behalf of Osaka Metropolitan University, I would like to extend a hearty welcome to all of you.

I would also like to celebrate the family members and other people involved in supporting the students and who have looked forward to this auspicious day.

We continue to live through a difficult period of infectious diseases and major natural disasters. To everyone here striving to overcome these difficult times, I express my utmost respect and sincere appreciation for your perseverance in the face of adversity. Furthermore, areas where peace has been lost in daily life continue to expand, with the war in Ukraine that began two years ago becoming protracted, and the conflict that has erupted between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas having no end in sight. The world is changing dramatically in many aspects. I hope that all of you will not find yourselves at the mercy of these major events, but will act accordingly, keeping the essence of things in perspective. At this very moment on Earth, war is causing many lives to be lost. Please do not take for granted that you are safe and well today. I hope that you will always maintain a sense of gratitude for peace as you go about your university life. As you live globally in the future, each person’s values will become increasingly diverse. I hope that everyone who studies at this university can recognize and respect each other’s diverse values.

OMU is one of the largest public universities in Japan, established in April 2022 through the merger of Osaka City University and Osaka Prefecture University. Public universities occupy a distinctive position between national universities, which inherited the state-led system, and private universities established by private individuals with clear educational philosophies. Osaka Mayor Hajime Seki explained in 1928 the significance of a public university located in the commercial capital of Osaka, saying Osaka University of Commerce, Osaka City University’s predecessor, “must never become a copy of a national university.” Osaka Governor Bunzo Akama expressed in 1949 his enthusiasm for the establishment of Naniwa University, Osaka Prefecture University’s predecessor, saying he wanted to “create the best university in Japan.” Osaka City University started after World War II, but its origins trace back to 1880, when figures such as Tomoatsu Godai helped establish the Osaka Commercial Training Institute, which later became Osaka University of Commerce. Through these institutions, technical colleges, medical schools, and women’s colleges were among the vocational schools integrated to form Osaka City University, whose first president, Kyo Tsuneto, described as having “an academic approach prioritizing the organic consolidation of theory and practice with respect for the freedom of academic inquiry.” Just as he said, Osaka City University grew to become a leader in academic research and higher education in Osaka and Japan as a university with a different flavor from national universities. Osaka Prefecture University was originally a technical college for engineering and agriculture, but after World War II it developed into an industrial university focusing on engineering, agriculture, and even economics, with the reconstruction of Osaka as its priority. Since then, it has expanded into the fields of general science and social welfare studies, and in 2005, it merged with Osaka Women’s University, which aimed to enhance women’s education in Osaka Prefecture, and Osaka Prefecture College of Nursing, which aimed to train advanced professionals in the medical field. Both are prefectural institutions of higher education and became highly distinctive, visionary universities in terms of education and research.

The distinctive position of public universities is that they strive to respond to the serious question of how academics and education should be in the context of the local community of the respective era. In this major industrial urban center once dubbed before World War II as Dai-Osaka (Great Osaka), Osaka City University and Osaka Prefecture University have developed a variety research and trained many excellent individuals in response to the mandate of city and prefectural residents. Osaka Metropolitan University is the very embodiment of what a public university should be, reflecting the demands of the times and the region.

The opening of Osaka Metropolitan University was the culmination of mergers between the public institutions of higher education in Osaka. I do not doubt that the harmony of these diverse academic cultures and traditions continues to be the driving force for the future development of Osaka Metropolitan University, which upholds “Convergence of Knowledge” and “co-creation” through a college and 11 other undergraduate schools. We are welcoming our third class of OMU students this year, but our campus is an environment where students from three universities—Osaka City University, Osaka Prefecture University, and Osaka Metropolitan University—study together. I believe that you will find diversity and various values in these situations. At Osaka Metropolitan University, which started two years ago but was founded upon a lengthy history that will continue to develop in the future, this is only a temporary stop on your journey, but all of you enrolling with us at this juncture will play an important role in coloring the new canvas of this new university from this diverse mix of cultures.

Now, I would like all new students to think about the differences between a university and the high school or other educational institution they have attended so far. The most significant difference is that, at a university, education is provided at the exact place where research and social contributions are conducted. I believe this is the reason you will be able to acquire here at the university practical knowledge that will stay with you and the impetus to pursue lifelong learning. Undergraduates and graduate students are expected to learn in an independent and self-reliant manner. In addition, you are not just passively learning what others teach you, but rather you are learning on your own initiative based on active learning. The lectures, experiments, and hands-on training at the university are designed to support your way of learning to acquire knowledge and grow on your own. At the university, you will be able to choose from a wide range of options and make your own study plan for what kind of studies you will learn. When you graduate or complete your studies in the future and face various challenges, you will find that nearly nothing can be solved through just one academic field. OMU offers a rich curriculum with 12 undergraduate and 15 graduate schools where you can make full use of the Convergence of Knowledge, as well as a variety of minors and study abroad programs. We hope that you will build your individual curriculum and enrich your way of learning.

As for experiencing the Convergence of Knowledge and active learning, the required First Year Seminar awaits all undergraduate first-year students from their initial semester. In this active learning course, students select a topic of interest from a wide variety of themes taught by faculty members from all academic areas. You will experience active learning through discussions among a diverse group of members. Through this seminar, you will learn the importance of Convergence of Knowledge and the diversity of values. Osaka Metropolitan University respects diversity in culture, expertise, and values, as well as diversity in students, faculty, and staff, and internationalism. We hope that you will deepen your understanding as students and strive to face new challenges while respecting each other’s values.

I mentioned that universities are where education is conducted in a field of research. It is meaningful for people to be fostered in innovative research fields. OMU aims to be an advanced research university, with the world’s cutting-edge research facilities. OMU has experimental laboratories such as the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, All-Solid-State Battery Research Center, and R&D Center for the Plant Factory, as well as about 50 distinctive interdisciplinary laboratories called the Collaborative Creation Research Center. The diverse academic research conducted by students, faculty, and staff, ranging from basic research to applied research, is disseminated globally and is highly evaluated by academia and industry around the world. Even as president of the university, I am still continuing my research on next-generation all-solid-state batteries, which I have been working on for many years. The faculty, staff, current students, and I who will welcome you have a passion for OMU, and I sincerely hope that your new university life will be a fruitful one.

Furthermore, university life is not only intellectual activities through academic study, but also where school festivals, clubs, volunteer activities, and exchanges in the local community are active, allowing you to foster your planning, creativity, communication skills, and other abilities. In just another year Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan will open, and because the university will be participating in various ways, we hope that all of you, this third class of OMU students, will be playing an especially active part as well. After the Expo closes, our new OMU campus will open in Morinomiya. Places of learning are not limited to the five campuses, as we also have central urban locations in Umeda and Namba. In addition, there are international exchange facilities where you can meet and interact with students and guests from abroad, and we have concluded international exchange agreements with more than 200 universities around the world. We hope that you will take advantage of these various “centers of knowledge” and use your own ideas to further connect with the local community and the world. The time you spend as a university student is an extremely precious time in your life, when you are rarely forced to do something or controlled by others. It is at university that you can improve at your own discretion, and all of your experiences here will be useful for your future. I hope that you will find out for yourselves what you should do in this limited time when you can enjoy your freedom, and what you can do only at OMU, where you have so many options to choose from. There are many wonderful encounters awaiting you throughout your student life. The subjects you will learn, the good friends you will make, and the mentors you will meet at OMU will be the foundation for your success in society. I hope that several years, even decades after graduation, you will be glad that you studied at Osaka Metropolitan University. I sincerely hope that this new beginning of university life will be a fulfilling one.

In closing, I wish all of you the very best in your future endeavors and extend my sincere congratulations to you today.

April 4, 2024
Masahiro Tatsumisago
President, Osaka Metropolitan University