The four-year period from AY 2022, when the last Plenary Council was held, through AY 2025, has been a period in which Ritsumeikan University has made full-scale progress in its efforts to realize its vision of becoming a “next-generation research university” and “cultivating innovative and creative talent,” in accordance with the plan for the first half of the R2030 Challenge Design.

During this time, Ritsumeikan University has been pursuing mutually reinforcing initiatives in areas such as academic reform, the advancement of research, the expansion of graduate education, globalization, student support, career development support, and campus development. Furthermore, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, ways of learning, student life, and interpersonal interactions have undergone significant changes, making the university experiences of both undergraduate and graduate students more diverse than ever.

This chapter will summarize the achievements and challenges of the major initiatives undertaken since AY 2022, focusing on how the environment has been developed to support the education, research, and student life of undergraduate and graduate students.

It should be noted that the initiatives discussed here include those that have led to concrete results and improvements through the Student Union’s Academy Co-creation Activities, the collection of feedback by student associations, consultations at five-party discussion meetings, and the Graduate Student Council’s efforts to collect graduate students’ opinions and engage in discussions with the university. These are closely related to the idea of “Academy Co-creation” as a university — that is, efforts to promote improvement and reform of education and research, student life, and extracurricular voluntary activities through dialogue and collaboration with students and graduate students.

As such, this chapter is organized so as not merely to review the university’s achievements and milestones, but also to examine how these connect to the day-to-day education, research, and student life of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as to identify areas where our efforts have not yet reached them, serving as a foundation for future discussions.