Some 115 students graduated from the Faculty of Law including Fidelma White who was conferred with an LLD.  A further 211 graduated from the Faculty of Commerce followed by 145 in Arts.

The Conferring addresses were given by Councillor Dara Murphy, Lord Mayor of Cork, Mr Jim Power, Chief Economist, Friends First (attached) and Mr Maurice Gubbins, Editor, Evening Echo (attached).  Speaking at the Arts conferring ceremony, Mr Gubbins said, in his view, Arts graduates are among the most educated of all.  “As Arts students, you were taught how to think. You learnt languages, literature, philosophy, music, psychology, drama, history.  Other faculties are great at training people in disciplines and specialisations.  Arts students, quite rightly, are valued as thinkers, with the potential to be educators, entrepreneurs and business people, administrators, social workers, entertainers and film-makers, politicians, journalists and commentators, leaders”, he said.

Speaking at the Commerce conferring ceremony, Mr Jim Power said 2010 will be another challenging year for the country. “As a people, we all need to rise to that challenge and ensure that the correct decisions are taken now, with a focus on the long-term health of the nation, rather than decision-making based on short-term political populism. This has been tried over the past 15 years, and has failed very badly.” He said it was now time to re-focus on quality and ensure that economic growth is harnessed in a high quality and sustainable way. “The challenge for Ireland is to create and sustain high quality employment where the rich labour force potential is fully utilised. We owe this to the talented young people who are graduating in UCC and in every other college in the country.”

The ceremonies conclude tomorrow Friday (December 11th).
_____________________

Conferring Address by Mr Jim Power, Chief Economist, Friends First, December 10th 2009

May I offer you my congratulations.

2010 will be another challenging year for the country. As a people, we all need to rise to that challenge and ensure that the correct decisions are taken now, with a focus on the long-term health of the nation, rather than decision-making based on short-term political populism. This has been tried over the past 15 years, and has failed very badly.

Quality has been sacrificed for quantity on the altar of short-term thinking in many aspects of Irish life over recent years. It is now time to re-focus on quality and ensure that economic growth is harnessed in a high quality and sustainable way. The challenge for Ireland is to create and sustain high quality employment where the rich labour force potential is fully utilised. We owe this to the talented young people who are graduating in UCC and in every other college in the country.

The immediate challenges are to correct the serious structural deficit in the public finances and arrest the ongoing deterioration in the labour market. These are the two critical areas for a few very important reasons:

• Accumulating government debt at the rate of €500million per week will just serve to create a debt burden that will suck resources out of the system in debt servicing costs, and create a burden for future generations;
• Back in the 1980s, Ireland biggest export was its brightest and best people and this brain drain seriously undermined the productive potential of the economy. We are now in danger of going there again.  This cannot be allowed happen. Ireland’s biggest asset is the quality of its young educated population, and we must ensure that policy making is focused on creating an environment where there is maximum potential for high quality employment creation, thereby keeping our brightest and best in the country;
• Ireland’s international reputation has been badly tarnished over the past couple of years. We need to rectify this situation and seek to sell the positive aspects of Ireland. The quality of the young educated potential workforce is one of the major selling points for Ireland. However, until we get the cost base and general competitiveness of the economy back on track, the basis for creating high quality employment will be seriously impaired.

Our political system owes it to the young generation of today and future generations to create a sustainable economic model.

_________________

Conferring Address by Mr Maurice Gubbins, Editor, Evening Echo, December 10th 2009
President, members of the University, new graduates, Masters recipients and distinguished guests, this is a great day.  It is a day of celebration for you, graduates, for your parents and families and for your professors, tutors, lecturers and all the staff of University College Cork who have assisted you in achieving a very significant distinction – a degree from this university.

I know you appreciate the opportunity you have had to study at this superb institution. And you appreciate the help you received in the past THREE or FOUR years, and indeed in all the years of your development into the fine young people we see gathered here.  While acknowledging that help and assistance, you must also take great satisfaction, and you are entitled to feel REAL pride, in what is a fine personal achievement for each of you.

You did the hours - and hours - of study.  You “lived” in the library. You turned yourselves into researchers. You prepared for and sat the exams. Your work was assessed and found to be of real value.  You earned your degree. Very few people will have worked harder over the past four years than you, the students of UCC. You had to, because the standards required of you HERE are very high.  That is why the degree you now hold brings with it so much brand value. It is a hard-won qualification.  Hard work deserves reward.

Today you are entitled to enjoy the fruits of that work and to celebrate the awarding of your degree.  I hope you will celebrate with your family and friends.  As a friend of mine often says, usually to pre-excuse some show of exuberance:  “when you’re out, you’re out”., I hope you’ll all have a wonderful day out.
 
Look back and look forward.

Think back to the first day you came TO UCC. Didn’t it all seem daunting.  Such huge challenges ahead. What a transition you had to make.  The fact that you’re here, having successfully graduated such a demanding academic course, shows that you made that transition.
 
Now you face new challenges – Gaining work, starting your career, or moving on to an even higher level of academic endeavour.  You are doing this in a time of great economic stress.  But you’ve met big challenges here and you will do it again – even better this time with the skills you’ve developed at university.  You’ve made the transition from second level, and home, to third level and more independence and responsibility.  You are equipped to move on now and build a future for yourselves.  You will make new friends – while keeping the old.  You are ready to embark on the world of work, or further studies, as skilled young adults.

You are Arts graduates and I am proud to salute you, as I subscribe to the belief that arts graduates are among THE most educated of all.  As Arts students you were taught how to think. You learnt languages, literature, philosophy, music, psychology, drama, history.  Other faculties excel at training people in disciplines and specialisations.  Arts students, quite rightly, are valued as thinkers, with the potential to be educators, entrepreneurs and business people, administrators, social workers, entertainers, politicians, journalists and commentators, leaders.
 
I am aware of many examples of the tremendous successes achieved by UCC Arts graduates all over the world.  I’ll mention just one whom I read about IN THIS September’s UCC Graduate magazine.  Marguerite O’Donoghue did a degree in history and geography here and graduated in 1986. She credits UCC with unlocking opportunities for her, giving her the confidence to explore exciting career paths, including working for Barbara Streisand and now the Disney Studios in Los Angeles, where she has become a senior executive. UCC taught her to question and explore and she used these skills in successive positions where she quickly developed the art and craft of film production.

I quote her:  “UCC was fantastic…a place where there were lots of new ideas to explore and learn and where everything was up for debate….especially in the college bar”.  Two of her sisters also graduated from here and she says: “We are very proud that we were able to go to university in our own town and receive such a good education. “
You graduates can be proud of what you have done, secure in the knowledge that you too have received a good education, the best this country can offer, which is recognised internationally, and be confident that you are now well set for the next stage of your life.

Some suggestions:
I have been in the newspaper business for more than 30 years. I have been trying to think of guiding principles I learned in that time which may be of interest, or of use to you.

Be adaptable
One thing I know is that change is inevitable and we must be flexible of mind in order to be able to deal with it and take advantage of the opportunities it brings.  I recently wrote a degree dissertation on The Future of Local Newspapers. 
Right through my time at work people have been changing their functions and roles and the immediate future promises even more dramatic changes. Our business has, in the last few years, been faced with the biggest changes it has ever experienced since the invention of the printing press.  Companies are racing to adapt to the internet. They are adjusting their offerings to maintain relevance, market share and profitability.
While some will not be able to adapt to the latest challenges and will be lost, many established brands will continue to be key providers of news, entertainment and information on a multi-platform basis for twenty first century consumers.  
I tell people we are chameleons rather than dinosaurs, and at 52 years of age I expect to have to make many more adaptations in my working life.  As you embark on yours, be open to taking on many different roles.  I know that your education here at UCC has equipped you to do so.

Work Hard
After the Irish rugby team’s recent victory over South Africa, it was suggested to Declan Kidney, the coach that he had inculcated a new work ethic in the team.  He replied that the work ethic came from the players themselves. They are now the most successful Irish team ever, but also the hardest-working.
You can do nothing about natural talent.  You either have it or you don’t.  But you can do something about a work ethic.  It is totally within your control.  You can decide to be a hard worker.  It is a decision which will pay off handsomely throughout your career.
Energy is a related matter.  I can tell you that employers value it enormously. If you can convince a potential employer that you have it, you are on a winner.  Employers know that no young person starting out can offer the complete package.  We will all make many mistakes and fail to take opportunities.  But if we have the energy and drive to recover from setbacks and go back for more, and to grasp the next opportunity, that is hugely valuable to any enterprise.  Believe me employers are looking for that, even in these difficult days – after all, who would you want in your corner, on your team – the cynic or the trier?  I believe that just like a work ethic, being energetic and positive is something that is totally within your control.

Sweat the small stuff
There was a book out a few years ago called ‘Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff’.  It was a fine book and I have no argument with its thesis, except that I would urge you to do the opposite of what the title suggests. Within the context of a decent overall plan, I have learnt the key to improvement in my business is attention to detail.  If you sweat the small stuff and work to get all the little things right, they will coalesce to raise the standard of your effort and produce better results.
Again, attention to detail is within your control from the very first letter of application and CV you send. 

Stand up for high standards
Failure by many people to do this in recent years has cost this country dearly.  Be honest in your dealings and don’t be afraid to stand up for the principles and standards you believe in.
Sometimes it can be difficult to disagree with superiors or colleagues.  It’s easier to go with the flow. But you bring value to an enterprise when you honestly present your own point of view.  Have the confidence to do so.
Believe in yourself, not in any arrogant or false way, but based on your natural talents and character, your academic education here and also on the many skills you have learnt, of teamwork, organisation and leadership from your involvement in student life, clubs and societies.

Have Balance in your life
In the future some of the most important roles you will play are ones you already have:  son, daughter, brother, sister, friend.  Perhaps some of you already are husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, but for most of you these roles are for the future.  They are every bit as important as, if not more important than your role in the workplace.  You will need balance in your life and how you achieve that depends on what vision you have for yourself.  What do you want for yourself?
Some young people are so focused on getting a job and working that this takes up all their time.  You need to decide what’s important for you and then make choices – make the choices that will open up those possibilities.  In the recent past people got themselves into enormous debt buying huge houses in places which dictated they could only lead hectic commuter lifestyles.  You have the luxury of learning from those mistakes. 
Some of you will go on for further study, to deepen your knowledge of the areas you have already studied.  Others will undertake courses in new areas to gain skills and knowledge which will equip you for various forms of work.  In both cases, I wish you every success in these endeavours. 

Be up for the fight
As I’ve been trying to indicate, a lot of what happens from now on is up to you. Do not be weighed down by the current sense of fear and trepidation. Go out and have the confidence to pursue your dreams and aspirations.  I am going to finish with the last lines from a poem I liked by Mary Oliver, The Summer Day:
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

ENDS
 
Pictured with UCC President, Dr Michael Murphy (centre) are Professor David Sheehan and Professor John O'Halloran who were both conferred with a Doctorate of Science (DSc) at the UCC Conferring Ceremonies.

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