Congratulations to all the new students on your admission to Niigata University.
Although COVID-19 has yet to subside, I am very happy that we are able to hold this entrance ceremony this year to convey my congratulatory message to you in person. On behalf of Niigata University, I extend my heartfelt congratulations.
As you enter this university, I am sure you came here with various hopes and dreams for the future. These hopes and dreams are the driving force for life. First, articulate them or write them down. Perhaps they are still vague and cannot be expressed in words or in writing, but it is important to consciously visualize them. By doing so, your hopes and dreams will gradually take shape or you may discover a small opening towards those vague hopes and dreams.
I believe that a university is where you define your hopes and dreams and develop the basic abilities to realize them. Unlike the exam questions you have sat through so far, your education at the university will not always come with a clear answer. In fact, you will often encounter challenges and questions that have no answers. Yet that is precisely how we develop the ability to face questions that we cannot answer or predict.
I hope that your education at Niigata University will enable you to realize this and equip you with the ability to face the unpredictable future. While at the university, I would like you to cultivate the courage to deal with questions that have no answers and the tenacity to overcome them.
Niigata University’s philosophy is "Autonomy and Creativity." "Autonomy," as the word suggests, is to behave according to the standards you have set for yourself, and "Creativity" means to produce something new. With this philosophy in mind, we hope you will foster the habit of always thinking of things based on your own established standards while studying at Niigata University.
Put another way, the spirit of “Autonomy and Creativity” means not to imitate other people and to be in the habit of making your own observations, discerning facts with your own eyes, and making correct judgments. This will enable you to possess “true strength” of resilience and suppleness, just like the branches of a willow tree, the symbol of Niigata.
I would like you to take to heart the philosophy of “Autonomy and Creativity” and the spirit of “true strength” as you expand the horizons of your learning during your life at the university.
In late February last year, Niigata University formulated its vision for the next 10 years. As we head towards the near future of 2030, becoming “a front-runner of future life innovation” was defined as the mission for the university to accomplish.
“Life innovation” here is not confined to the fields of medicine, healthcare, and welfare, but is also innovation that creates new values and meaning for “our existence”, “whole life”, “way of living”, “the ideal society”, and “involvement with the environment, as well as the very basis of these, earth and nature, as we live in the 21st century.
Niigata University is a large-scale, comprehensive university. It is a “repository of knowledge” that gathers experts from various academic fields. Therefore, by tapping into their collective capabilities, the goal is “future life innovation” and Niigata University aims to become a front-runner in this endeavor.
In this environment, you will be able to study not only your specialized fields but also various other disciplines. You may also have opportunities to leave your desk and do field work or study abroad once COVID-19 is under control. Even now, with COVID-19, we continue to conduct various activities online and hold exchanges with foreign students and researchers. I hope you experience various encounters while at this university as these experiences will certainly be of great value to you.
My heartfelt congratulations, once again, on your admission to Niigata University.
I hope your university life will be a truly rewarding one.
Thank you.
October 3, 2022
USHIKI Tatsuo, M.D., Ph.D.
President, Niigata University
恭喜所有秋季新生们入读本校。
虽然新型冠状病毒肺炎COVID-19至今仍未结束，但今年能在这种情况下像这样举办典礼并当着大家的面送上我的贺辞，我感到非常高兴。我谨代表新潟大学致以由衷的祝贺。
在入学之际，在场的同学们应该都怀揣着对未来的各种梦想和希望吧？梦想和希望是人类生存的原动力。首先，请试着用语言将其表达出来。或者，也可以尝试用文字来描述。或许还很模糊，无法转变成语言或文字，但有意识地去想象很重要。这么做的话，想必梦想和希望就会一点一点地具体起来、或者渐渐能看到那扇通向模糊的梦想和希望的小小门扉吧。
我认为，大学就是一个明确自己的这种梦想和希望并培养实现它们的基础能力的地方。在大学的学习中，不再尽是些如以前的试题般有答案的问题。相反，大家应该会常常遇到一些没有答案的课题和问题。但实际上，那也可以说是我们在培养面对无法解决的问题和无法预测的问题的能力。
希望在新潟大学的学习能让同学们注意到这一点并掌握今后面对无法预测的未来的能力。而且，我还希望同学们能在大学生活中培养“面对没有答案的问题的勇气和将其攻克的毅力”。
新潟大学的理念是“自律与创生”。正如其字面意思所言，“自律”就是按照自己制定的规范来采取行动，“创生”就是创造新事物。新潟大学希望大家基于这一理念在学习期间养成“始终自己制定自己的规范来思考事物的习惯”。
若将这种“自律与创生”的精神再稍微换种说法，那就是秉持不效仿他人、而是自己仔细观察或倾听事物并用自己的眼睛去分辨事实从而做出判断的习惯。于是，就会让人如新潟市的象征——柳树般拥有如柳枝般柔软而不屈的“真正力量”。
希望同学们一面通过在新潟大学的学生生活完成各种学习，一面感受这种“自律与创生”的理念和“真正力量”的精神。
话说回来，新潟大学在去年2月底制定了展望10年之后的未来愿景。其中，面向2030年这个不久的将来，将新潟大学应履行的使命定为成为“未来的生命·创新领跑者”。
这里所说的“生命·创新”不仅限于“医疗、健康、福利领域”，而是指旨在创造与生活在21世纪的我们的“生命”、“人生”、“生活方式”、“社会的理想状态”、“与环境的关系”、以及构成这些之根基的“地球”和“自然”相关的新价值和新意义的创新。
新潟大学是一所大型综合大学，是集结了各学术领域专家的“知识堡垒”。因此，发挥这种综合实力所要实现的是“面向未来的生命·创新”，而新潟大学的目标就是成为其领跑者。
在这样的环境里，同学们不仅能进行自己专业领域的学习，还能获得不仅限于此的各种学问。此外，应该还有离开课桌的实地调查。若新冠疫情稳定下来，应该还有留学的机会。当然，即使在新冠疫情的当下，大家也能以在线方式开展各种各样的活动，与海外的学生和研究人员进行交流。希望同学们在大学期间经历各种各样的邂逅。那一定会对大家有很大的帮助。
最后，我再次恭喜同学们入学。我在此致以由衷的祝贺。希望同学们的大学生活硕果累累，我的致辞到此结束。
2022年10月3日
新潟大学校长 牛木辰男