Graduation address: Professor Clare Peddie
Wednesday 26 June 2019
Vice Chancellor, ladies and gentlemen, little ones and everyone here today. I have the greatest honour in presenting your graduation address. Graduates from the Biology and Chemistry Schools it gives me the greatest pleasure to be one of the first to offer you many congratulations on your significant achievement.
I truly believe that there is something really special about being a graduate from the University of St Andrews. It is really hard to accurately define the uniqueness of the student experience here in St Andrews and precisely what it is that has made your time here so special.
Some might say that the student experience is down to the dedication of your teachers, those that have enthused and facilitated your learner journey with research-led and research-informed teaching. Some may say that it is down to the professionalism of the hall wardens, the janitors, the cleaners who have tidied up after you, the school technicians the administrative staff, student services, and careers advisers - all who have helped you on your journey here today.
And finally, some might say that it's just the nature of the medieval town in which we find ourselves – the bubble – that is St Andrews. However, my observation is that the experience you have had here is self-made – it's you, the students, that make St Andrews what it is; you have fashioned the most supportive and caring environment for each other – a community in which you look out for and support your fellow students. You have made an atmosphere in which you generate your own fun, your own parties and you manage without the nightclub. You organise a network of societies, parties, sporting clubs that join you all together to be the students of St Andrews with a common interest. And you help us do the work that we do through your Class representatives, your School presidents, and Sabbatical Officers to help us improve your experience every year. In your time here, you will have formed lifelong friendships, perhaps even relationships, and now you go on to join a network of supporting alumni who will always offer hospitality to their fellow graduates, wherever in the world you will meet. And believe me you will meet each other in the most unlikely of places.
Those of you who are making their second or perhaps even third graduation today to receive a postgraduate degree, you have my special congratulations. You have completed a journey accomplished by very few; a journey that by its very nature is unique and original and sometimes lonely. You can be immensely proud of the advances that you have made in your discipline.
Family and friends, as the mother of two graduates from the University of St Andrews, I am able to say, with some authenticity, that I fully appreciate your overwhelming pride today. I share your satisfaction and I share your apprehension. It is a changed world into which your loved one is graduating today; a world in which we have significant concern for climate change, the consequences of which those graduating today can expect to experience in their lifetime unless we make significant adjustments to our way of life. It is a world of political change where tolerance and international collaborations are challenged.
Be reassured though, these graduates today have experienced a community in which we all respect and value diversity; where we embrace and welcome our international connections and where consideration for others and harmony are central values.
They leave with the critical and analytical skills necessary to unpick untruths, to challenge dogma, and to make evidence-based arguments the norm. On behalf of these graduates here today I would like to thank you all for your support during their study here at St Andrews.
Actually, second thoughts, I think they should thank you themselves. Graduates, what I want you to do, I want you to stand up and I want you to turn around 180 degrees and I want you to give those who have supported you a big round of applause and say thank you very much.
So graduates what next? Some of you may have the immediate future already mapped out in front of you; and some are still considering your prospective pathway. Personally, I am pinning my hopes on you all to use your minds and skills to support a sustainable future for our planet. In the words of our honorary graduate Sir David Attenborough ‘We need to move beyond guilt or blame and get on with the practical tasks in hand.’ He also said ‘Young people: They care…They actually believe that humanity, human species, has no right to destroy or despoil regardless.’ In whatever you choose to do going forward, enjoy every moment, but relish life with a look to the future of life on our planet and get on with the practical tasks in hand.
Thank you very much.
Professor Clare Peddie
Vice-Principal Education (Proctor)