Some thoughts for Open Day 2009
Tomorrow, the Universities and Residential Colleges will hold their annual Open Day. On offer is a range of attractive opportunities for people from all ages and backgrounds who wish to undertake tertiary education.
For many potential students visiting from rural or metropolitan areas across Australia and overseas, next year many will experience living away from home for the first time.
Year 12 is vastly different to first year university. For first year university students, issues of motivation, different teaching and assessment practices, the feeling of isolation and loneliness together with the challenges of a completely different lifestyle can be overwhelming. After many years of hard work to achieve the grades required for the course that will lead to your career of choice, the incredible challenges of your first year at university, posed by a changed lifestyle, can be extremely challenging
However, there is more to university life than study, shelter and sustenance (Walsh, 2005). Students that decide to live in a college residence are in fact choosing a way of life. Students carry their university experiences with them for the rest of their lives It is our task to ensure that those experiences are as fulfilling as possible, to enrich both the present and the future.
There is much evidence to suggest that college residence is not only encouraged, but mandatory for at least part of the undergraduate years in many of the world's outstanding universities, such as Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Cambridge. The assumption of these universities is that residence is essential to the kind of educational experience that they offer. Students are attracted to these institutions, in part, by the educational world they will inhabit while undertaking study towards their degree. The Harvard prospectus, for example, notes that their residential plan embodies 'more than simply places to live' - 'by design, residential living among students and faculty is an essential part of the Harvard experience' and 'creates collegiate communities within the larger University community' (Powell, 1997, p 3)
The team spirit, accepting 'family' atmosphere and the achievement of academic excellence inherent in the collegiate way of life are qualities which cannot be replicated in other accommodation alternatives. Colleges like St Mark's exist to provide a supportive and stimulating environment in which each student may pursue optimum academic achievement.
Students from rural areas and overseas, encounter loss of family support and dislocation from local networks as they adjust and assimilate a different lifestyle. This is where university colleges have a valuable role, providing support and friendship to balance these new freedoms and responsibilities. Colleges are where students come to live as well as learn, young people across the generations, across the world, have acquired lifelong friendships and cross-cultural understandings in ways not possible through other institutions.
Learning comes from more than just academic activity. It is as vital to be engaged with the student group as study. Colleges aim to cater for both. Inter-college sport, debating, social functions and in-house activities create a continuing programme of interaction, multicultural exchange, spiritual development, enjoyment, celebration and fun as a community.
College is about providing moral support and pastoral care for students weak or strong, especially in crises during their residency. St Mark's provides an excellent environment supporting its students' educational progression and personal development, by nurturing character, intellect and physique in a caring, scholarly community where each individual is a cause for valued equality. While we uphold our traditions we are also well equipped to face the challenges of a changing society. As a former Dean at St Mark's once said "You go to University to learn; you go to St Mark's to get an education".
I encourage you to visit St Mark's this weekend for Open Day and decide for yourself.
