Rector Klaus Mohn welcomed the students to a new academic year during the opening ceremony at Campus Ullandhaug today. Read the speech here.
Dear student,
I am delighted to welcome you to the University of Stavanger. A special welcome to all our new students.
Thank you for choosing the University of Stavanger! We will do our best to ensure that you will be able to learn and have a great time.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. What lies ahead now is nothing less than a new era. That might sound a bit pompous. But your life as a student will shape you as you acquire new knowledge and your new experiences will change you. You will grow and develop, both as an individual and as a fellow human being. So it’s not at all strange if you have butterflies in your stomach. A new city. New studies. Who will I make friends with? Will I enjoy myself?
It’s the dream we carry
that something wonderful will happen
as the Norwegian poet Olav H. Hauge once wrote.
Our university is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. So it’s about the same age as many of you. And it’s equally full of energy, vitality and enthusiasm. We also want to make ourselves relevant, preferably by virtue of innovations based on knowledge. And not least as good fellow citizens. We hope that you, our students, will have similar ambitions.
At the UiS we meet social challenges with new knowledge. This is how we will secure the welfare state and come closer to finding solutions to natural and climate challenges. And in turn we hope that the education we provide will help to prepare you for important tasks.
With effect from today you will become a member of our academic community. We live and breathe for engaging in constructive criticism and debates. Not because we love to argue, but because educated differences in opinion provide the best basis for acquiring new recognition and knowledge.
Let your voice be heard too. Join us in securing a great culture of expression. Crack down on victimisation, divisive rhetoric and conspiracy theories. However, express your own opinions and present your own counter-arguments. In this way you will find the path to learning, future development and growth.
Being a student has never been easy, and nor should it be. One of the main aims of higher education is for students to develop independence when facing challenges and grow as their assignments become more extensive. And therefore they should be pushed a bit as they progress.
The way ahead is paved with challenges, doubts – and sometimes obstacles. Most of these can be overcome, sometimes with a bit of extra time or effort. For example, one of the American chemists who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023 failed his first exam.
Even I struggled during my first few years of life as a student, for various reasons. I studied both history and English – before ending up as an economist. Knowledge is never wasted.
After a few years, or perhaps after you have changed courses a couple of times and have worked hard, you will achieve something. This is how Hauge concludes his wonderful poem and perhaps you will also experience gliding onto a new road that you were not aware of.
The path you need does exist! And I hope that you will find it here in Stavanger.
Welcome to the UiS!