Apologies once again for my lethargic updates of this blog. It has been a long and sometimes stressful year.
The dates at the top indicate the date in which I started University, and the date in which my last official appointment with University staff took place. Although I am still required to appear for exams, I have completed my attendances of all formal methods of teaching provided by the academic staff and have in part, performed my obligation to attend classes to the best of my ability.
Casting my faculties over the past 5 years, I have realised that this period has given the finishing touches to the human being I am today. Pre-University days, when I heard influential leaders in all spheres of life talk about the effect a tertiary institution had on them, I could not understand how their persona could be transformed. However, this misconception was cleared within the first six months of my enrolment.
I joined UniSA as a naive and brash 17 year old. I leave it as a 22 year old, who is still naive and brash, but has a sense of maturity (or so he thinks). I came into University having no skills in presentation, writing, communicating. I leave University with the belief that I am able to hold my own in these skills. I enrolled to University with no idea on building relationships and networking. I leave it, having made connections, and learning "how to work a room". Finally, I came to University having a group of good friends. I leave it, having gained a group of great friends.
Over the years, there have been many a time when I have doubted the relevance of some of the things I was involved with. I looked on at frustration at what I saw to be unfair policies biased to full-fee paying students. I explicitly and implicitly questioned the rationale of some of the subjects we were studying and the point of pedagogy using outdated equipment. The question of "Will I ever use this in real life?" occurred sometimes with alarming regularity in some subjects I undertook. On the other hand, there have been innumerable subjects, which I felt proud to have done. My world-view of economics, shifted drastically from being a borderline socialist, to a confident capitalist. I am now in awe of businesses such as Google, products such as the Apple Ipod after looking at their cases in entrepreneurship.
I now realise that, in my opinion, University does not "teach" you anything, and thus my use of the word "pedagogy" may be misrepresentative. The purpose of University is to allow the student to re-ignite the spark of "Why". This spark, is inherent of humanism and is what drives us to achieve bigger and better things. In re-igniting this spark, University allows us to carry out our own research into our questions of "Why" and thus enables a broader frame of thinking. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the Final Year Projects of Engineering students. A general, non-statistical, subjective survey would seem to indicate that many of the 2008 cohorts would have used minimal coursework knowledge in dealing with their FYPs. The major sources of achievement would have been driven by the trying to seek the answers to "Why". It is therefore no co-incidence that those who score high marks in these projects are those who go deeper into answering their own question of "Why".
I consider myself to be successful at University. I say this because I believe that I have participated in all aspects of life that University has to offer. While I have attentively sat in lectures (for the most part) and been present at tutorials and practicals (again, for the most part), I have also enjoyed the social aspects of University, and more importantly, I have worked in various capacities as an employee of the University. UniSA gave me my first job, which served as a foundation for all the other jobs I have applied, and certainly played a large part in my successful application to Accenture. Similarly, my involvement in various clubs, societies and student teams at the University gave me the abilities which I use, to this day. As I say again, University doesn't tell you what to do, it shows a pathway, and allows one to ask the question of "Why".
As I now come close to my destination as an Engineer, I realise the journey was fantastic. Someday, I hope to recreate a similar journey in pursuit of a higher degree. I may be successful, or I may not be. However, as I relive this journey, I keep in mind all my experiences and hope to apply the knowledge out in the real world.
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