On January 26 (Friday), Rector Orestes Cachay Boza of the National University of San Marcos of the Republic of Peru visited Soka University. He was welcomed by Soka University’s Board of Trustees Chair Yasunori Tashiro, President Yoshihisa Baba, students that studied abroad in Central and South America, and students that belong to the Latin America Research Club.

　The National University of San Marcos was founded in 1551. This prestigious university is the oldest facility for higher learning in South America, with 20 faculties, 62 courses, and a current enrollment of approximately 45,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The university conferred an honorary professorship upon Soka University Founder Dr. Daisaku Ikeda in 1981 and an honorary doctorate on him in August of last year.

　Rector Orestes Cachay Boza shared that “youth” itself represents a passion for humanity’s future and is another name for “responsibility and perseverance.” That is why they seek to change and to train themselves by advancing together with fellow youth. Rector Boza said that President Ikeda’s message helps to further elevate one’s behavioral consciousness in order to build a more humanistic world. This is because, transcending the limitations of research and knowledge, the role of universities is becoming increasingly important in this modern age in which globalization is progressing. Rector Boza also shared that universities are currently not only serving as bases from which knowledge and scientific information are sent out but, above all, are aiming to take action as fortresses that foster human beings and protect supreme humanistic values, with science, technology, and art as tools.