Classes for the fall semester began on September 14th (Monday), and students who enrolled in the in-person courses all gathered on campus. While online distance learning were conducted in the spring semester, for the fall semester, a hybrid-type structure is in place with a combination of online and in-person classes based on thorough countermeasures to prevent the spread of the virus for restarting educational and research activities.

In conducting in-person classes, a “Soka University Guidelines for the Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreaks” was established, which compiled all the precautions to date including “introduction of COVID-19 Contact-Confirming Application (COCOA),” “confirming one’s temperature in their daily life,” and “behavioral patterns in case of illness, close contact, and infection,” making sure that these are common knowledge for everyone concerned at Soka University. Also, sanitizers and automatic thermometers are placed at each facility on campus, and the avoidance of the “Three Cs” including the securing of social distancing are displayed in classrooms and self-study rooms. Countermeasures for the spread of the virus such as the management system for entering and exiting rooms are also in place.

Through such measures, the university is promoting each person’s awareness of the virus.
Students who gathered on campus to participate in the in-person classes commented as follows: “Attending classes with friends in classrooms, I now feel that I am a college student. I want to challenge myself in studies and extracurricular activities during my college days” (Freshman, Faculty of Letters). “While following new rules such as taking my temperature and wearing a mask, I want to experience the maximum positive aspect of both online and in-person classes” (Freshman, Faculty of Business Administration).

On the first floor of the Central Education Tower “Global Square,” a mosaic artwork representing Ikeda Auditorium, combining approximately 3,000 pictures of the campus and students was on display. This was for welcoming new students who were coming to the campus for the first time after enrolling at Soka University, as well as to cheer for the sophomore to senior students who have returned to the campus for the first time in a long time.