Fall semester 2021

To all registered students and guardians:

With the start of fall semester 2021 on September 18, the University’s fundamental stance toward how we conduct our classes remains unchanged:

1.We believe face-to-face classes to be the basic form of university education, so courses will as a rule be based on face-to-face learning, taught in classrooms where possible.
2.However, given the unpredictable nature of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we will permit remote participation in face-to-face classes by those persons with a particular need for anti-infection measures.

From these principles, we started spring semester 2021 with a significant increase in the number of face-to-face classes, but with the reissuance of a state of emergency at the end of April, we were forced to recommend that many classes revert to a remote learning format.

Today it remains unclear how the pandemic will play out, so we will again start fall semester with classes taking a combined face-to-face and remote learning format. However, as compared to spring semester, where we limited classroom capacities to one-third normal, in fall semester we will increase classroom capacities to one-half normal (one student per two seats). This will increase the overall capacity for our campuses, along with the number of face-to-face classes we can offer. We also expect that our students will be able to spend more time on campus.

Since spring, there has been a steady increase in the number of vaccinated persons nationwide, and the effects of that trend are showing in the numbers. Meiji Gakuin University is also participating in the Workplace Vaccination Program, allowing all students, faculty, and staff in all schools and programs to be vaccinated if they wish. (Note that due to delayed delivery of the vaccine, the first vaccinations in this program will begin in late August; see this webpage for details.)

Of course, whether to get vaccinated is an individual decision, and so left to you. The University will not require you to get vaccinated, and you will not receive discriminatory treatment if you decide not to. Note, however, that the more persons get vaccinated the more quickly we can develop herd immunity, which will make us all the more resistant to COVID-19. We therefore recommend that everyone at Meiji Gakuin get vaccinated, alongside requesting your continued support for our other infection prevention measures.

We at Meiji Gakuin University hope to gradually return to normality, not only in how we conduct our classes, but in extracurricular activities, exchanges between friends, faculty, and staff, and in other standard university functions. However, we must remain vigilant with regards to future developments in COVID-19 infections. Above all, we ask for the kind cooperation of each and every person in making efforts to prevent COVID infections, both on and off campus.

Leo Murata, President
Meiji Gakuin University
July 29 2021