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VC’ s corner
Photo: University of Otago
politicians, social workers, bankers and business owners. The list goes on and on. The best advice we can give our students is to discover what they love doing and what they are good at.
As simple as that advice sounds, for many of us, finding what we love and what we’ re good at takes a bit of time. I know I have the best job in the world. But I didn’ t go to university to become a vice-chancellor. When I was sitting at the opening Convocation at my undergraduate university, becoming a vice-chancellor had never crossed my mind. I actually went to university to study Spanish, but I found psychology along the way. Psychology was and still is my intellectual passion. That passion has opened doors that I never dreamed possible, doors that were not part of my original professional plan.
I know that my experience is like that of many, if not most, of our students. Shortly after I became the vice-chancellor at Otago in 2011, a student contacted my office requesting an exit interview with me. He was graduating on Saturday and he had some things he wanted to say. When he came to see me later that week, he told me that he had come to Otago with dreams of becoming a doctor. He had studied extremely hard during his first year and was selected into our highly competitive medical program. During the first week of medical school, however, he came to the realisation that he didn’ t really want to be a doctor after all. What he loved more than anything else was history. Contrary to the advice of both his family and friends, he switched from medicine to study history. He was about to graduate with an honours degree and then he was off to the job of his dreams as a consultant for a major think tank in London.
Based on my conversation with this student, our advice to all students at Otago is now much more explicit. We remind our students that success comes in many different shapes and sizes, and we actively encourage our students to explore all the educational opportunities that Otago has to offer. If they initially pick a course that they don’ t like or aren’ t very good at, we help them to pick another one. As a comprehensive university, Otago has endless opportunities for study. Every semester provides the chance to learn something new. We know that once a student discovers his or her intellectual passion, they will flourish, and a rewarding future will ultimately follow, a future that they( or their families) may have never considered.
Second, in addition to finding their intellectual passion, we also want our students to grow in all the other ways that we know are important to securing a happy, healthy and successful future. Here at Otago, we are not only educating the next generation of doctors, lawyers, teachers and accountants, but more importantly we are – very deliberately – nurturing the next generation of citizens of New Zealand and the rest of the world. Our students will develop some of the personal insights they need to enhance their citizenship in the classroom, but they will also do so in many other places.
As a residential university, students come to Otago to live as well as to learn. During their first year here, most live in one of our 15 residential colleges, where they are supported by a full academic tutorial, sports and cultural program. In this environment, they often meet the friends they will keep for a lifetime. In their second year, most students move to a flat in the neighbourhoods adjoining the university. In this environment, they will learn to cook, to pay their bills and to negotiate daily life with a group of other young people. They will test their boundaries and make mistakes. They will also look after each other and gain confidence and independence.
In fact, these are the skills that employers value most about Otago graduates.
Employers often tell me that it doesn’ t take long for them to figure out that a job candidate has come from Otago because in addition to being bright, they are also articulate and confident. Once on the job, they form teams quickly and figure out how to get things done. I would like to think that they learned some of these skills from their professors, but deep down I know that much of this they learned from living with their peers and from what we call the Otago experience.
So, in addition to encouraging students to find their intellectual passion, we also encourage them to make the best of all the experiences that Otago has to offer. We challenge them to meet more people. Talk about the world. Debate politics, religion and current events. Join a club. Learn a new sport. We urge our students to take advantage of the wide variety of internships, volunteer opportunities, study abroad and extracurricular activities that Otago provides.
During a graduation address at a university in America, the late Steve Jobs said:“ Your time here is priceless, so don’ t waste it living someone else’ s dream. Don’ t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
I often repeat this advice to our students at Otago. I also encourage them to take a few risks along the way. In my experience, having the courage to follow your own heart often leads you to somewhere remarkable.
In the end, this is what we truly expect for our students: a happy, healthy and remarkable future. The trick is making those expectations clear. ■
Professor Harlene Hayne is vice‐chancellor at the University of Otago.
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