Media Release; 2007 OPSA President's March Graduation Speech

Purchasing a car. Buying a house. Getting married. These are all tough decisions. The decision to embark upon tertiary education can also be a very tough decision. For some of you this has meant leaving home for the first time. Moving to a new city and meeting new people. For others, you have returned to tertiary study after being in the workforce for many years. Having to remember what it was like to study, how to study and also dealing with the stress that comes with it.

It doesn’t matter why you decided to enter tertiary study, all that matters is that you made. Today is your opportunity to celebrate the journey you have been through.

Your journey has consisted of many hours huddled over books, essays, computers, projects and having to learn to deal with the stress that is placed upon students in today’s society. You have had to fit your studies around such things as looking after your children, running a household, and spending time with friends among a huge array of other things.

Graduation day is a day where we all come together to celebrate each and every graduands outstanding achievement. An achievement that for some has been a smooth road to victory. You have always known what you wanted to do. For others, the road to graduation was not so smooth. You may have had to battle through many obstacles such as family issues, financial discomfort, and personal fear. You should all feel a great deal of pride and satisfaction in yourselves for completing your journey. Today is your day.

There are a number of defining moments when you are a student. That first assignment you had to do. The tension you felt before you got your marks back and the joy you felt when you passed. I can also almost guarantee that all of you can remember the last assignment you completed. The feeling of relief you felt as you handed it over and realised that you are coming to the end of an era. For some of you, today is the end of classroom education for you, however you will all continue learning from this day forth making yourself better at what you do for the benefit of yourself and for the benefit of society. For those that have made the decision to continue on your journey you will be gaining a further in-depth knowledge in your chosen area and this will benefit you in both educational growth and personal growth.

Our wonderful graduands here, with all their unique differences will be able to fix, teach, programme, organize, create, and generally sort out a wide variety of things. I am proud, as I am sure is everyone behind me, of our graduands unique differences that will make for an exciting future for generations to come.

Otago Polytechnic graduates will go on to inspire many people to achieve as you have done today. Along with those who have assembled here to honour your unity in graduation today I pay tribute to your accomplishments and wish each exceptional one of you an exciting future- a future which celebrates and values your accomplishments today and into the future.

Along with our graduands there are a number of other people here today that deserve praise and thanks also. These people have been through the good and bad times of studying. They have seen the stress, the tears, the frustration and the happy times for our graduands. They are very rarely seen or heard during the course of study yet they have helped the graduates through their studies more than is recognised. The people I am talking about are the friends and family that have joined us here today to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduands. On behalf of those graduating today, thank you.

In closing, let it be one alone that stands among the other stars in the sky.In other words be your own leader and achieve.

Thank you.

Media Release; It some cases, it's not the size that matters

The National Student Debt has now hit a massive nine billion dollars

“Nine billion dollars in student debt is staggering. Student debt is a serious threat to our society and can no longer be ignored,” said Richard Mitchell, President of the Otago Polytechnic Students’ Association (OPSA)

“Student debt is making it increasingly difficult for graduates to own their own home, is delaying graduates from having children, and hindering New Zealand’s future” stated Mr Mitchell

A recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report commented that the current system does not address to the full extent the financial barriers students face in accessing Tertiary Education

“There are two simple ways to alleviate the student debt problem. First, introduce a universal student allowance. Second, bring back free education. It’s that simple”, says Mr. Mitchell

Today students will be active on campuses around the country promoting the detrimental effects of the nine billion dollar student debt crisis.

OPSA urge the government to recognise the effects the student loan scheme is having on students and graduates and immediately move towards introducing a universal student allowance and free education