Graduation Ceremonies Sept 2020

Post date: Sep 14, 2020 9:23:13 AM

SPEECHES by Vice Chancellor

Ø Faculty of Law and Management -Tuesday 1 September 2020

This morning 166 students will graduate from Faculty of Law and Management. You will witness the conferring of 2 PhDs, 53 Masters, 3 Postgraduate Diplomas, 2 Postgraduate Certificate, 96 Bachelor’s Degrees, and 10 Diplomas.

Welcoming Guest Speaker

Ladies and Gentlemen, as is customary in our Graduation Ceremonies, we have today in our midst, as Guest Speaker, Mr Shashi Ramdany.

Mr Ramdany is the Chief Executive Officer of the Reinsurance Solutions Group. He joined the Reinsurance Solutions,Mauritius Limited as Area Manager in February 2009. He was appointed as Executive Director of the Reinsurance Solutions Limited in March 2012 and CEO of the Reinsurance Solutions Group in April 2016.

He is holder of BSc (Hons) Maritime Business with Maritime Law from the University of Plymouth, Institute of Marine Studies, UK.

I thank him for having accepted to address and inspire the convocation today.

Ø Faculty of Law and Management & CILL- Thursday 3 September 2020

This morning 134 students will graduate from Faculty of Law and Management and the Centre for Innovative and Lifelong Learning. You will witness the conferring of 109 Masters, 1 Postgraduate Diploma, 3 Postgraduate Certificate, 6 Bachelor’s Degrees, and 15 Diplomas.

Welcoming Guest Speaker

Ladies and Gentlemen, as is customary in our Graduation Ceremonies, we have today in our midst, as Guest Speaker, Mr Ramalingum Maistry.

Mr. Ramalingum Maistry is currently the Chairperson of the Mauritius Ports Authority (MPA). He is a seasoned professional who held senior positions in the road construction industry. He served as Mayor of the Municipality of

Beau Bassin/Rose Hill. He acted as Chairperson of the Tourism Fund Board and Discover Mauritius state-owned company.

He was also the Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and at the Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment.

Mr. Maistry is currently the Honorary International Ambassador of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, U.K.

He is also the Chairperson of the Ports Association of Indian Ocean Islands (APIOI / PAIOI) and holds directorship on the board of the Association of Ports and Cities (AIVP). Mr. Maistry is MPA’s representative at the level of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH).

We at the UoM have a close partnership with the MPA.

I thank him for having accepted to address and inspire the convocation today.

§ Dr Louis Jean Claude Autrey, CSK, Chancellor

§ Professor S K Sobhee, Pro-VC (Academia)

§ Dr Santally, Pro-VC ( P&R)

§ Mrs Issur-Goorah, Registrar

§ Mr Shashi Ramdany, Chief Executive Officer of the Reinsurance Solutions Group

§ Members of Congregation

§ Deans of Faculties

§ University Colleagues

§ Graduands

§ Distinguished Guests

§ Ladies and Gentlemen

A very Good Morning to you ALL

On behalf of the University of Mauritius, I wish to extend a very warm welcome to you at today’s Graduation Ceremony which should have been held back in April last but had to be postponed due to the confinement.

Let me first of all congratulate you on your achievement. Your efforts and perseverance have taken to where you are now. I hope you enjoyed your studies at the UoM. We endeavor to offer you the best we can in terms of knowledge and skills so you are well prepared to step into the world of work.

As you leave the University, be thankful to your parents who for many have done lots of sacrifices to support you, your lecturers who have spared no efforts to guide you and to your sponsors. They all deserve a big round of applause.

Dear Graduands

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented disruption across all socio-economic sectors worldwide, forcing nations and organisations to not only take measures to limit the spread of the virus but to adopt new ways of operations in order to survive. Indeed, the COVID-19 crisis is a wake-up call to the whole world for a systemic change as well as a change in mindsets.

At the UoM, it was our duty and responsibility to ensure students do not suffer major perturbation and complete the academic year 2019-20 in a serene way. To do that, we had to take a number of bold measures such as switching rapidly to online delivery of lectures, replace exams for non-final year students by an additional continuous examination, schedule examinations for final year students in July/August 2020, on-line submission of dissertations and many more measures to ensure the least disruption.

We have been able to do that because we were prepared. Remember Louis Pasteur ‘Chance favours the prepared mind’. Second, we could adapt to the new situation swiftly. Third, we had to take some risks such as planning for exams without having the certainty that the pandemic will be behind us. As an entrepreneurial University, we know what is meant by being proactive and take risk. Fourth, it is also about resilience, how we can adapt to adversity.

Dear Graduands

Being proactive, taking risks, developing resilience are not trait-like as we tend to believe. They can be learnt, this is what we refer to as soft skills, so important for you in your job. Knowledge and skills that you develop at the university are certainly very important but attitude plays as big of a role: respect for others, enthusiasm and positivity, your commitment to the job, helpfulness with others over and above loyalty, self-discipline, trustworthiness, should I add patience as well.

The COVID-19 crisis has taught us a new lesson – that the days of doing ‘business as usual’ is gone; that it is no question of normalcy. If we do not draw lessons from the pandemic and do business-as-usual, we will have to bear consequences in the future.

While still coping with the Post Covid-19 impacts on our society, we have had to face another tragedy that of the oil spill. Again here, it is a matter of resilience, remember how we face adversity. We can look for scapegoats but more importantly, it is our duty and responsibility to join hands to fight the problem and find innovative solutions. In this uncertain world, the law of causality is not applicable that is to one effect, there are several likely causes and not just one cause.

Before I conclude, let me also remind you all here of the important role you have to play in bringing awareness for the SDGs and embracing the SDGs so we can collectively achieve UN Agenda 2030.

With these words, I wish each and every Graduand all the very best in your future endeavours and I also invite you to join the Alumni so that together, we can promote the University to greater heights.

Guest Speakers - Graduation Ceremony –September 2020