University of Otago Graduation ceremony

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.   Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the afternoon (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Lindsay Brown, Chancellor of the University, John Ward, Pro-Chancellor;  Professor David Skegg, Vice-Chancellor; Your Worship Peter Chin, Mayor of Dunedin; University staff and students but most importantly, graduates and your families; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

It was with pleasure that my wife Susan and I accepted the invitation to be part of this University of Otago graduation ceremony.  I would like to take an opportunity to speak about the role of this University and of your role in the community as graduates.

While I am a graduate of another New ZealandUniversity mid-way between Hamilton and Whangarei, I happen to have a strong affection for the University of Otago.  As a 19-year-old in 1964 I studied here towards medical intermediate, medicine having been my father's profession and Otago his University.  The year brought me to the conclusion that medicine was not my calling and I returned to Auckland at the end of the year, to enrol as a law student in Auckland while also working in a law office part-time.

I have many happy memories of that year at Otago and living at AquinasCollege.  It was accordingly a pleasure last month to attend a reunion dinner at Aquinas to mark 20 years of the University's ownership of the hall of residence and 50 years or so of its life as a University hostel.

Otago was a much smaller place in the mid-1960s, when there were fewer than 4,000 students, whereas now there are five times that many.  It was a place where people walked everywhere, even if just in the Valley and on the flat parts!  With good reason,

Gladstone Road

in Dalmore on which Aquinas is located was called "Coronary Hill". I met many people during that year, a crucial number of whom who have remained friends to this day.

As someone who is recreationally as well as professionally connected with the law, in preparing for this address, I could not help but note that Otago is the only New Zealand University whose legal foundation rests not an Act of the New Zealand Parliament, but rather on an Ordinance, in  other words a law passed by one of the former provincial councils which were abolished in 1876.  The University of Otago Ordinance was passed by the Otago Provincial Council in 1869.  There are very few provincial ordinances still in effect, although a number of them were passed by the Otago Council.  This is why when the University statutes of the present day have a statute saying the University of Canterbury Act and the University of [the place between Hamilton and Whangarei] Act the statute for this University is the University of OtagoAmendment Act.

Since 1869 Parliament in Wellington has repealed everything except the title, preamble and first section of the Ordinance, but the preamble is worth repeating. It says and I quote:

"Whereas it is expedient to promote sound learning in the Province of Otago in the Dominion of New Zealand, and with that intent, to establish and incorporate a University at Dunedin in the said Province of Otago open to all classes and denominations of Her Majesty's subjects."

The preamble makes two points.  First that the University was established by the founders of the Otago province to "promote sound learning" which is something it has done to this day.  The University, which opened its doors to students in 1871, has maintained a proud history in teaching, research and community service. It was, for example, graded as the top-ranked University for research quality in the 2006 Performance-Based Research Fund evaluation.  The high quality of research undertaken here has also been on display in the citations of those receiving doctoral degrees at this graduation.

Secondly, while Dunedin was a settlement established by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland, the preamble decreed that the University would be "open to all classes and denominations."   This is also a telling point.

What it essentially said was that so long as they met the University's entrance standards, everyone was entitled to study here.  It is not surprising then that Emily Siedberg, the first New Zealand woman to graduate with medical degree in 1896, and Ethel Benjamin, the first New Zealand woman to graduate with a law degree in 1897, were both students at Otago.

What the Preamble also underscores is the leadership and foresight shown the founders of Dunedin and the Otago province in establishing a University.  This city had only been founded as a settlement 21 years before the Ordinance was passed, and so it speaks much of the hopes that the province's founders held for the future of the city and for the value of education, that in such a short time they had decided to move to establish a University. 

A University has always been a valuable addition to any city.  While there was undoubtedly an element of prestige sought in establishing this University, the founders also recognised the wider value of tertiary education - to society and to the economy as a whole.

Today, Universities are recognised as key sources of innovation and what, today, is called knowledge creation.  A 2006 survey by Statistics New Zealand showed that research and development undertaken by New Zealand Universities was worth $NZD 593 million a year—a third of all research and development performed in New Zealand.

That survey also found that the Universities account for more than half the country's research staff and the bulk of its fundamental research capability. As well, our Universities produce half of New Zealand's patents and they educate nearly all of its postgraduate students.  New Zealand's Universities are also at the forefront of translating research into commercial opportunities and success.

The founders of OtagoUniversity also recognised the value of a tertiary education to its graduates.  Given the context of the settlement of Dunedin, they would have seen tertiary education as a means of improving the intellectual and moral character of the province's young people.  They believed those gaining a university degree were not only improving their own character, but improving the fabric of society as a whole.

In a modern sense, this aspiration can be seen in several ways.  Research has consistently shown that university graduates are more likely to have higher paying jobs, are less likely to be unemployed and are more likely to be innovators in business, science, technology and many other spheres of professional life.

It is often said that when you graduate, the University formally welcomes you to the community of scholars.  Entry to that community not only bestows the benefits I have just outlined, but also obligations.

There seems to be an obligation to acknowledge the sacrifice and investment of time and effort you have made, but in a similar fashion the support of partners, parents and family.  These people can also stand tall with you today and share pride in your achievement.

There then seems to be an obligation to acknowledge the contribution that your alma mater has made to your education.  The value of the education this University has provided is not so much the ability to recall specific pieces of information or knowledge, but the skills to comprehend and hopefully solve complex issues thrown up by our increasingly complex world.  

Graduates of Otago have succeeded in many spheres and are to be found in many parts of the world, a number as leaders in industry, government and business.  One of them, for example, who graduated with a medical degree from Otago, Arthur Espie Porritt, later Baron Porritt of Wanganui and Hampstead, went on to be our nation's first New Zealand-born Governor-General in 1967.  A Rhodes Scholar, he also was an Olympic bronze medallist in the race immortalised in the movie Chariots of Fire and he pursued a distinguished career in medicine, sports administration, and a number of other fields.

So let graduation not be the end of your connection with the University.  It is important for you to retain an interest in its affairs and to give back to an institution which has given you its best.  It is for that reason that this University, like most in New Zealand, makes provision for graduates to have a direct say in governance of the institution by the election of representatives to the University Council. 

Finally, there seems to be an obligation to acknowledge the wider community, which has also invested in your education.  With your graduation, a mantle passes to each of you to make this day the first step in using your qualifications.  You have it in your power to better yourselves and to seek leadership.

But the mantle of leadership means you also have it in your power to improve the communities that you will serve and will make our country—or wherever your career takes you—a better place.  As my predecessor, Charles John Lyttelton, the 10^th Viscount Cobham, noted in a graduation address, coincidentally to an audience at a University midway between Hamilton and Whangarei, almost 50 years ago: "You have in your University learnt for the first time the meaning of a community life.  That community is much more important than the sum of its members."

Participating in the community can be demonstrated in many ways.  It might come from actively participating in a business or industry and helping it prosper.  It might come from the quiet service to a profession, or from signs that others have flourished because of the support provided through voluntary service.

For everyone graduating today, many paths will beckon.  For some it will be to travel and to enjoy the New Zealander's traditional OE.  For others, it will be entering the full time workforce and a future career path that way.  For others, it will be to continue with further postgraduate study, leading to a Masters or Doctoral degree.

Many of these paths will no doubt intersect, but whatever your future, may I wish you all the best and urge you to make the most of your life ahead. As the champion New Zealand motor racing driver, the late Bruce McLaren, once said: "It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."

And on that note, I will close in New Zealand's first language Maori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours. No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.