Graduate of the Year 1956, James Hyland

1 Sep 2024

1956’s Graduate of the Year, James ‘Jim’ Hyland, returned to campus, 60 years after graduating, to reflect on his time at college studying commerce. The visit was prompted by his daughter Judy (BComm ‘84), who at her recent class reunion, spotted her father’s name on a Roll of Honour in the Graduates’ Room in the North Wing of the Quad.

Reflecting on his time at UCC, Jim remembers it as "a small friendly community" where the student population was only around a thousand - quite different from today's campus of over 24,000 students. The tight-knit environment of 1950s campus fostered deep friendships and a unique undergraduate culture. His commerce class had about 20 students and offered an intimate and supportive academic setting. Jim recalls that "interfaculty contact was continuous, creating a wonderful social environment."

Looking back, how has learning and teaching evolved? Jim observes that it was all about traditional lectures back then with a stark absence of “action-learning” in the 1950’s curriculum. Many years later, Jim had the privilege of serving as a mentor for the master’s degree in marketing at UCD, where he witnessed firsthand the significant evolution of university teaching. The relationship between student and instructor was also different. As a young undergraduate "university staff seemed elderly and distant” to him, a stark contrast to his later experience during postgraduate studies in the US, where it took time for Jim to adjust to "the casual nature of lectures and lecturing staff."

Jim’s journey was not without its challenges. While playing rugby for UCC at the Mardyke, he sustained a serious neck injury, which he describes as having a significant impact on his later life. The injury extended his degree from three to four years, with one year spent in hospital. It also brought an abrupt end to his rugby career, as he was "forbidden from playing contact sports ever again," a loss that he felt deeply. The injury required further neck surgeries in later years. Still, it did not diminish his dedication to his studies – he graduated in 1956 (pictured below receiving his parchment from President Henry St J Atkins), as ‘Graduate of the Year’, no less.