Graduation address by Professor Seán Allan

Wednesday 1 December 2022
Afternoon ceremony

Vice-Chancellor, colleagues, special guests, and graduates.

Today marks an important day for all of us present here, but in particular for you, the graduates of the Classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022. It is wonderful to see so many of you here – in-person, unmasked, and from so many different disciplines. As my colleagues and I watched you cross the stage to be capped by the Vice-Chancellor and receive your degree, or the formal recognition for all your hard work, we felt immensely proud of everything you have achieved and a deep sense of satisfaction in the power of education to transform and improve the lives of all under even the most challenging circumstances.

Now, my sociologist friends tell me that some people refer to you as Generation Z – Generation Zoom. But really, I think you deserve to be called Generation R – Generation Resilience – for all that you have been through during the past two years or so. Indeed, your very presence here today is testimony to that resilience in the face of a set of circumstances which few could have predicted and the like of which, we all hope, we will never experience again.

But of course, like most things in life, academic achievements almost always involve a degree of teamwork; and in this respect we should not forget the crucial – but often unsung – role played by families and friends. Since observing someone you care deeply about in the final stages of completing their degree is probably one of the most stressful things you can do, I think this is the moment for you to join me in applauding your parents, families, carers, and friends for all their support, courage and, of course, resilience too.

For me personally – as a professor of German in the School of Modern Languages – one of the most heart-warming aspects about the University’s graduation ceremonies is the fact that, despite Brexit, this University has maintained a genuinely cosmopolitan outlook that is reflected in the sheer diversity of the student body graduating today. But the winter graduation is also a special occasion for me in my role as a University ambassador for our main strategic partner, the University of Bonn in the Federal Republic of Germany, because a number of students on our joint taught Masters degree in German and Comparative Literature have graduated today. Our partnership with Bonn – one of the most highly rated universities in the Federal Republic – dates back to 1911 and, over the years, has grown to embrace not just the arts and humanities, but science and medicine too. But what is perhaps most important about this strategic partnership is that it reflects our shared belief that, if we

are to find answers to the big questions we face today, cooperation not competition, is the way forward.

Thankfully – in Scotland at least – it now looks like the worst of the pandemic is behind us. That means, of course, that students have been able to return to the watering holes of St Andrews in-person and participate properly in the recent Raisin Weekend and the serious business of foam fights. Thankfully, pseudo-intimate introductions prefaced by the words ‘I’m going to share my screen with you’ and the all too familiar cry of ‘you’re muted’ are but distant memories of what university life used to be like. Of course, St Andrews was, is, and always will be a predominately ‘in-person’ university – and the fact that some of you have had to wait quite a while for this ceremony is proof of how seriously we take that in-person experience. In the accelerated digital age in which we live, continuity of relationships (whether with employers, teachers, or friends), the undivided attention of those with whom we interact and the simple option of being able to take one’s time are becoming increasingly rare luxuries. But I am confident that they will all remain at the heart of this University’s educational mission for the foreseeable future.

Even so you will be only too well aware of how, in the wake of the pandemic, digital technologies have transformed our world. But with those advances come new threats. The cosmopolitan public sphere that is so vital for rational democratic debate and the development of the global consensus we need if we are to tackle the problems facing the world is increasingly threatened by fake news, online trolling, and other antagonistic forms of cyber-crime. That is why, looking forward, the University’s Digital strategy is such a vital tool in providing you and future generations of students with the kind of critical digital literacy that is essential if we are to make decisions that are based on evidence rather than opinion, thereby ensuring that society develops for the benefit of all and not just for those who shout the loudest. Those are the values we have instilled in you as graduates of the University of St Andrews, and now we are relying on you to go out there and make a difference.

Of course, we hope that you will make full use of your digital skills to keep in touch with us wherever you happen to find yourself. But as far as today is concerned, my advice to you is to rejoice and celebrate your amazing achievements and to do so ‘in-person’ and in the most analogue way you can imagine.

Thank you.

Professor Seán Allan
School of Modern Languages