More and more universities are planning to hold a year-late enrollment ceremony this spring for current freshmen whose spring 2020 entrance ceremony had been cancelled amid the pandemic.
The universities plan to give their students a chance to restart their campus life, which has been full of irregularities with the closure of schools and remote classes.
"I can finally wear the suit I made a year ago," said Sophia University freshman Shoya Nagaoka, 19. "Maybe I'll be able to comprehend my university life has started."
Sophia University, in Tokyo, will hold an enrollment ceremony for current freshmen divided into six sessions from March 29-31. As more people applied to participate in the ceremony than expected, the university added two sessions to the original four.
Since last autumn, the university has also held events to recruit freshmen to join clubs, but students who cancelled contracts with places to live in Tokyo and returned to their hometowns were not able to participate.
Nagaoka has also been taking remote classes at his parents' house in Osaka. This will be the first time for him to visit the campus since he began at the university.
"I'm looking forward to meeting friends with whom I am only connected through the internet," he said.
Seikei University, also in Tokyo, plans to hold an enrollment ceremony for freshmen on March 31.
"We want to give [freshmen] a chance to take pictures under the cherry blossom trees on campus," said a representative of the university.
In past years, signs announcing the enrollment ceremony had been placed at the main gate and in front of the gymnasium. This time, however, they will be placed in about 10 places to avoid crowding. In Japan, many like to take photos in front of these signs to commemorate their enrollment.
"We have received welcoming comments from parents, such as, 'I'm so happy I could cry. The news was really a weight off my mind.'," said the representative.
Kyoto University, Nagoya University and Hokkaido University will also hold enrollment ceremonies for current freshmen in April.
Lacking sense of fulfillment
Universities are planning the enrollment ceremony a year later as they are concerned about the psychological state of the current freshmen classes, who have not been able to enjoy the university life they envisioned.
A survey of 11,000 students conducted by the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations in October and November of last year found 74% of respondents said they enjoyed a fulfilling campus life, down 15 percentage points from the previous year.
The decrease was greater for students in lower grades, with 57% of freshmen saying they had a fulfilling campus life, down 33 percentage points from a year earlier.
By type of class, more than 70% of sophomore, junior and senior students answered that both face-to-face and remote classes provided a sense of fulfillment. Forty-two percent of freshmen said they feel fulfilled with remote classes only.
Freshmen who answered they belonged to a club fell 34 percentage points to 49%, while those who worried they could not make friends or did not have any friends increased by 20 percentage points to 35%.
Meiji University plans to hold a joint enrollment ceremony for new and current freshmen at the Nippon Budokan on April 7. The ceremony will be held three times, with 5,000 attendees allowed per ceremony.
"I hope we can resolve the dissatisfaction and anxiety of the current freshmen class and make the enrollment ceremony an opportunity for them to make a fresh start with a sense of pride and awareness as students of Meiji University," said Ryokichi Chida, vice president of Meiji University.
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