Nagahiro Minato, 27th President
Today, Kyoto University welcomes 2,259 new students enrolling in master’s programs, 347 enrolling in professional degree programs, and 918 enrolling in doctoral programs. On behalf of the University’s faculty and staff members, I congratulate all of you on your enrollment at Kyoto University. I also extend my warmest congratulations to your families and all those who have encouraged and supported you thus far.
Today, you have all taken a new step to further your academic endeavors in your respective fields. The academic departments of Kyoto University span a diverse range of fields, with 10 faculties, 18 graduate schools, and over 30 affiliated research institutes and centers to support your studies. The University also provides five Leading Graduate School Programs and three doctoral programs for the World-leading Innovative and Smart Education (WISE Program), in which students acquire the practical knowledge and technological skills needed to address issues in modern society.
Let us consider for a moment the characteristics of a graduate school, such as those in which you are now enrolled. According to Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, “graduate schools in Japan are places of education (educational programs) that provide students with a systematic education, based on defined educational objectives and through programs of specified length and curricula, and that award those who have completed such programs with specified academic degrees.” More concisely, they are “degree-granting education programs”. Incidentally, the number of people in Japan with academic degrees is currently much lower than in major Western countries. According to the 2021 statistics, the number of people holding master’s degrees in Japan was 590 per million capita, which is only about 10% to 20% of the number in the UK, Germany, or the US. The same is true for the number of people holding doctoral degrees, which is only about a third of the number in those major Western countries. I think that differences in the countries’ historical backgrounds lie behind this, but at least at present, it seems that in Japan, academic degree holders are not playing active roles in many areas of society beyond academia itself. This is also clear from the fact that the ratios of degree-holders in politics, government, industry, the mass media, NPOs, and other sectors outside of academia are extremely low compared to major Western countries. Currently, intensive discussions are underway throughout the whole of society, including the government, industry, and universities, to improve this situation in Japan and cultivate an environment in which people with degrees can play active roles in a wide range of fields. I hope that increasingly proactive measures will be implemented in the future.
As you embark on master’s or doctoral studies in your respective fields, you will likely encounter the terms “basic research” and “applied research”. That distinction was first made in 1945, after the end of World War II, in a report titled Science-The Endless Frontier submitted by US scientific advisor Vannevar Bush to President Harry S Truman. Bush asserted that public funding should be invested in basic research — the focus of universities, but not in science applied to product development in companies. The concept that sufficient public funds should be invested in basic scientific research at universities was strongly reflected in postwar US science and technology policies. As a result, US universities have led the world’s scientific and technological development, in terms of both quantity and quality, through cutting-edge basic research supported by abundant research funds.
However, the dramatic development and rapid global expansion of science and technology in recent years seems to have rendered the classic distinction between basic and applied research almost meaningless. Today, information about new discoveries and breakthroughs in research travels around the world in the blink of an eye, influencing research and development for social innovation all over the world. Science and technology is now the main driving force behind social development, and the focus is on how quickly and effectively it can bring about social transformation.
An example of this are the startup ventures which have been rapidly emerging in recent years. They represent attempts to directly translate the intellectual achievements that, for example, people like you have attained through graduate school research into social value. Unlike a general venture, whose main purpose is to generate profit, the establishment of a startup venture represents a clear intention to actively contribute to society by applying the achievements of one’s academic or scientific research. In particular, ventures that manifest a strong desire to utilize research outcomes to help address the issues currently faced by people and society are known as “impact startups”. In recent years, Kyoto University has been very focused on startup activities, with almost 300 startup ventures already established. In particular, much attention has been garnered by so-called “deep tech startups”. One of the major characteristics of deep tech startups is their intention to help address important issues faced by modern society, such as issues relating to energy, the environment, food, health, and welfare, through genuine technological innovation based on original research outcomes.
The will or ability to take risks and start new businesses from scratch is known as “entrepreneurship”. Entrepreneurship is also gaining attention in Japan, but it requires different skills and drive compared to academic research itself. In the European Union (EU), entrepreneurship has long been positioned as an important educational policy — as one of the “key set of competences needed for personal development, social inclusion, active citizenship, and employment”. President Joseph E Aoun of Northeastern University, who has held key positions in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Council on Education, and other organizations, has emphasized that, “teaching entrepreneurship — especially social entrepreneurship — should…be a matter of national consequence and priority for universities.” With the increasing prevalence of university-based startup ventures, the need for education to foster entrepreneurship is also increasing, and an entrepreneurship training course is being developed as part of the general and cross-departmental education provided by Kyoto University’s graduate schools. Of course, there are many other ways in which you can contribute tangible value to society through the achievements of the academic research into which you have poured your heart and soul. Whatever form such contributions take, your desire to improve people’s lives and health through the results of your research should be respected, and it will surely drive your academic research to new frontiers.
Recent years have been hailed as a so-called “era of meritocracy”, in which individuals should be evaluated and rewarded based on their contributions to society. What must be emphasized here, however, is equality of opportunity. In other words, provided equal opportunities are given, everything else depends on individual ability, and the slogan of American society has been, “you can do it, if you try.” On the other hand, we have recently also been hearing cautions against the excessive implementation of meritocracy. Professor Michael Sandel of Harvard University has expressed concern that “the tyranny of merit” has created too much inequality among people today. The “tyranny of merit” often leads to arrogance on the part of successful people, who may claim that “if someone is not successful, it is because they did not try hard enough.” It is an argument that has a certain degree of plausibility, and appears to be consistent with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which states that selfish individuals have an evolutionary advantage within a particular group. On the other hand, Dr Edward Osborne Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning social biologist and professor emeritus at Harvard University, has analyzed the self-sacrificing behavior of ants, bees, and other insects, and has suggested that the altruistic behavior of these social insects could explain the development of sociality in organisms, including humans. Darwin also asserted that, while natural selection will give selfish individuals within a group an advantage, in group vs group competition, groups containing more altruistic individuals will have an advantage — a phenomenon he called “group selection”. Dr Wilson believes that Darwin’s theory of group selection can explain the evolutionary inheritance of altruistic traits, such as the division of labor and cooperation — in other words, the evolution of the trait known as “eusociality” in humans.
In contrast to the trend of widening social inequality within the “tyranny of merit”, the idea that increased individual altruism within a group contributes to the development of society as a whole may be connected to what Professor Sandel calls “contributions to the common good”.
You will all soon be engaged in cutting-edge research in diverse academic fields in a Kyoto University graduate school. Our society seems to be becoming increasingly complex and uncertain. In that context, I hope you will bear in mind that your research achievements can only be appreciated if they are accepted and recognized with respect by society, and I would like to conclude these remarks by hoping that you will all do your best as true academic elites.
Once again, I extend my sincere congratulations to each of you.