Osaka City University (OCU) held its 2013 entrance ceremony for all new undergraduate and graduate students at the Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium on Friday 5 April 2013. This year 1,527 undergraduate students, 23 transfer students, 557 Master course students , 127 Doctor course students and 45 Professional (Law) Degree students entered OCU.

The students entered the hall while the OCU Concert Band was playing and the ceremony was then opened with a speech by President Nishizawa. He explained that this year it will be 133 years since OCU was established and that this makes OCU the oldest city university in Japan. It is also the largest public university, and the only comprehensive university within Osaka City. In the next 4 or 6 years, the students will see the university taking on new challenges and the President called upon the students to take the opportunities that this step into a new era will bring.

Next a congratulatory address from the Mayor of Osaka Hashimoto was read out by Vice-Mayor Murakami, followed by a speech by the Vice-Chairman of the Osaka City University Educational Supporters Association Tsukamoto. As representatives of the student body, Yuta Sato (Faculty of Engineering) and Noriko Yoshiyuki (Graduate School of Nursing) took an oath. The ceremony ended with a joint performance of the OCU Chorus ‘Friede’, Mixed Chorus and Glee Club and music by the Concert Band.

　
Photo left: President Nishizawa and Yuta Sato (Faculty of Engineering)
Photo right: President Nishizawa and Noriko Yoshiyuki (Graduate School of Nursing)

Ceremony program:
?Opening
?Speech by OCU President
?Congratulatory speeches:
(speech by Osaka Mayor, read out by Osaka Vice-Mayor)
(Vice-Chairman of the OCU Educational Supporters Association)
?Swearing in of student representatives
?Performances
?Closing ceremony