University Life: University gives us much more than qualifications

MA postgraduate student in education at Oxford Brookes

It was my honour to have the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of all the students graduating from Oxford Brookes University on Friday.

Graduation is a great day in our lives. It is a day of celebration of the time we have spent at Brookes and all we have achieved. Whether we have lived and studied here in Oxford or have learnt from a distance, the university has given us much more than our qualifications, vital though they are.

Throughout our time at Brookes we will have been gently steered through the currents and eddies of the ‘life academic’ by the tiller of the university’s four guiding principles: confidence, connectedness, generosity of spirit and enterprising creativity.

Whether like me, it was summoning the confidence to return to full time education after many years away, or for my more fresh-faced colleagues, embracing the confidence to step away from the familiarity of school and the family fold and into the exciting, frightening, inspirational life at university, Brookes played an integral role in building on that confidence; nurturing it, recognising it and celebrating it.

In our time here we will have faced moments of uncertainty, moments of trepidation and moments of challenge. In those moments we will have found our tutors, friends, family and peers there to help us find the confidence to step up and rise to the occasion.

At times we will have been over-brimming with confidence. Brookes will have recognised this and set about putting it to work – pushing us to work out of our comfort zones, to question our assumptions and to view the world through a novel lens. We will have become better and more confident scholars for it.

As we move on from Brookes, we will take with us the pioneering spirit that has guided us through our studies. Each of us will have had opportunities to try something new, be that through the societies and clubs that so well define the extra-curricular life here at Brookes, addressing a long-standing research conundrum with a fresh approach or tackling an area of study that we may never have even known existed.

In doing so, we have blazed a trail, not just for ourselves but for our peers who come after us – showing just what can be achieved with an enterprising attitude and creativity of mind.

Oxford, as you know, is the centre of the known universe. But Brookes’ sphere of influence isn’t confined just to our city of aspiring dreams. Brookes connects us to the world, to the past and to the future.

We have been lucky to have learned with and learned from, colleagues from all over the world. In my class alone, I was privileged to work alongside students from Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Nepal, Kenya, Burma, Palestine… and Didcot. The scores more who attended on Friday are testament to Brookes connectedness to the world.

At times, life may have been tough: pressure to meet deadlines, family commitments, life in a new place, agonising over phrasing an essay conclusion.

The generosity of spirit of the members of Brookes’ community will have ensured those burdens were not left to us alone.

The tutor who went out of her way to ensure everyone had a hearth by which to sit at Christmas; the collegiality of students sharing ideas, resources and time; the good grace and understanding of our partners, children and parents who vicariously shouldered the stress and jubilation of student life; and the roommate with that perfectly timed, restorative cup of tea as we slaved over the final, final edit.

We have worked hard to reach where we are today and it has been worth it. Friday was a day when we could take pride in our achievements and face the future with more confidence.