HOME   >   OUR MPS   >   GEORGE HAWKINS   >   SPEECHES

Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you and congratulations to everyone graduating today.

Welcome also to the families and friends who have come a long way in many cases, to be here to see their children and family members graduate.

For many of you, today’s ceremony represents the end of a long, perhaps hard, but I hope enriching, journey.

It’s not an easy thing that you have accomplished.

It’s not easy to leave your country, your home, your family, your friends, to take a chance to travel to a different country far away in order to study.

You left behind all that was familiar to come to New Zealand, often on your own, with the aim of bettering your education.

Because most of you are from overseas – I note that of St Helen’s 1600 students, 80 percent are from overseas. In fact, students from more than 25 countries are studying here under the one roof.

St Helens has grown from small beginnings in 1990 when, with financial backing from Taiwanese, Japanese and New Zealand interests, it began as a School of Languages offering courses in English language to international students.
In 1991, St Helen’s original objective of becoming a private tertiary institution specialising in international business and cross-cultural communication was realised with the opening of A School of Business.
These days the range of courses offered is indeed broad, and includes Schools of Foundation Studies, International Studies and Graduate Studies. And the future continues to look bright.

For many of you gaining the qualification you receive today would have meant also facing learning a new language. It’s meant adjusting to learning about a new culture, a different way of looking at the world. New sights, sounds, tastes, people.

It’s learning to get around the City of Sails. It’s about becoming Auckland Blues supporters, watching the Super 12. Learning about Auckland’s traffic, Auckland’s weather, the New Zealand way of doing things.

During your time here many of you will have had the chance to experience at first hand New Zealand family life through boarding arrangements with local families.

There, no doubt, you will have been exposed to some of this country’s indigenous foods – such as Vegemite, rich kiwi milk, Vogel bread, buzz bars and hokey pokey icecream.

New Zealand’s preoccupation with sport may have come as surprise to some of you and hopefully you’ve come to enjoy, if not understand and be part of, some of the sports you’ve been exposed to.

Hopefully also, your experiences as living as part of a New Zealand family have given you greater insight into the way our community operates and you take with you lasting and enjoyable memories of your time here.

You will have experienced all these things before you’ve even begun your studies, before you’ve attended a class or opened a book. Or begun to get along with all the other people in your classes here at St Helen’s.

Most students of your age in this country don’t have as many issues as these to face when they go on to tertiary education.

As a former teacher myself, I know how hard it can be for students to adjust to different schools and learning institutions.

I admire your efforts and you deserve everyone’s admiration for what you have achieved.

I am reminded by the sacrifices you have made, of another group of people who did a very similar thing, right here in this country, but rather a long time ago.

Many of you will know St Helens offers a foundation course for later study at the University of Otago, in Dunedin.

Dunedin, for those of you not so familiar with New Zealand, lies very near the bottom of the South Island.

Many of you may be leaving St Helens to travel to Dunedin shortly to enroll there for further study. All I can say is take a warm jacket – it snows down there.

In Dunedin you’ll discover a fine University. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand’s oldest University.

Or you may be moving on to one of New Zealand’s other Universities, all of which have internationally recognized reputation for excellence.

Or to one of the numerous outstanding polytechnics.

Where-ever you go, you can be sure that when you first chose to continue your education in New Zealand, you chose well. You’ve come to a country with a long and proud history of valuing education.

New Zealand today is one of only three OECD countries where both participation rates and completion rates for university programmes are above the OECD average.

New Zealand is a country that looks to its academic community to foster skilled and adaptable people, and create new ideas.

New Zealand’s Government wants an education sector more connected to the economy and society and which has a strong focus on relevance, quality and above all, access.

We are determined to ‘open up’ tertiary education so that it enjoys a closer relationship with our economy and society.

When we look at the figures we see how far in the last decade the private tertiary sector that offers students nationally recognized courses and qualifications has developed.

In 2000 there were 834 private providers, making the private sector a substantial contributor to New Zealand’s tertiary education sector.

Such providers are marked by their ability to meet a diverse range of needs for a variety of groups and by a willingness to constantly evolve in response to demand.

As well as giving students an alternative to traditional training options, many offer specialised programmes.

All, however, are subject to and supported by the same quality assurance requirements as other tertiary education institutions in New Zealand – an important point for those looking to study in New Zealand, and one which this Government prides itself on.

New Zealand’s education system seeks to equip students for the challenges of globalisation, technological change and the growing importance of knowledge to economic growth.

We need skilled staff who can deliver and distribute knowledge and skills in innovative ways.

I believe educational institutions such as St Helen’s encompasses and realises many of these aims.

In doing so, it recognizes that both here and abroad tertiary educators should be in dialogue, not only amongst themselves and their current students, but also with society as a whole.

This is, after all, the age of the ‘knowledge society’.

In such a society a diverse range of people require enhanced access to relevant education and training throughout their lives.

It’s where knowledge, skills, information and creativity are the main drivers of a country’s competitive advantage.

The world is now increasingly aware of the importance of these attributes in contributing to social development.

Around the world, employers are looking for much the same basic skills.
They want an employee who has:
· Communication skills, someone who can put a sentence together and who can write well.;
· someone with excellent self management skills;
· team players
· someone with good mathematical ability
· those who are good at solving problems and thinking their way through things
· people with technology skills, including computing skills
· and people who want to keep on learning.

Research across the world has shown employers are likely to employ graduates, no matter what their discipline they’ve studied, if they have a willingness to learn, know how to be part of a team, can communicate well, solve problems, and have analytic ability.
They also like people who are flexible and adaptable.
Looking about this room, I believe many graduating today who already fit that description.
Simply moving to New Zealand to study makes you global students, living examples of globalisation. You’ve demonstrated adaptability, flexibility, problem solving, and team spirit.
Today, with this graduation ceremony underway, you’ve shown you also have the intellectual ability.
Once again, congratulations to all of you who are graduating today. I wish you very good luck in your future careers. Thank you.

 

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