Graduation speech

Dear fellow students and staff members, faculty, family and friends.

Being here today means that the exciting journey we started on years ago is coming to an end, nevertheless it also marks the beginning of new adventures to come.

I discovered the NOMA master program by chance. After working a few years after finishing my bachelor I had thought about continuing with higher education, but had not found a master program that suited my interests. One day, during the cold Norwegian winter of 2008 I suddenly stumbled upon this Master Program in International Education and Development. The focus areas international education, development, gender and HIV/AIDS were all areas of great interest to me and I was thrilled about the prospects of an international student body. I continued reading the course description and when I realized the program included a semester in South Africa and fieldwork in the South I just knew I had to get into this program.

It is today almost exactly two years ago since I got an e-mail from one of the staff members saying that I had been accepted to the NOMA master program. I was sitting at work, and the e-mail that dropped into my inbox was to change my life as I knew it. The past two years have given me experiences and knowledge I had not dreamt on beforehand. We started with a heavy module in epistemology and research methods, which there and then seemed anything but comprehensible, but during the writing process over the past year, the puzzle has come together and now suddenly it all makes sense.

Last spring I joined 11 fellow students from South Africa, Sudan, Zambia and Norway and waved the snow goodbye to do a course on HIV/Aids and Social Identity at the University of Cape Town. The Norwegian students had the pleasure of sharing a house with our Sudanese colleagues, so not only did we experience and learn about South Africa, we got a bonus introduction to Sudanese cooking, culture and way of life as well. The beauty of studying abroad is that when the classes finishes each afternoon, the teaching continues on an unofficial, but just as important level, and I learnt so, so much during the semester in Cape Town. Interacting with the local community enriched the experience and added to the learning on a whole new level, which increased my understanding, and gave me friends for life.

I would like to thank Oslo University College for offering master programs like the NOMA program, and the staff members for making it such an interesting program. Being part of a diverse international study environment is challenging and extremely rewarding at the same time, and we gain valuable experiences we will draw on for years to come. I’d like to thank my fellow students who have made the past two years unforgettable, from the studying to the first exam, e-mails exchanged during our fieldworks and emotional support during the thesis writing over the past months.

With the amazing experiences from the past years in mind, I’d like to finish off with a quote from former South African president, Nelson Mandela “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Upon completing your master degree here at OUC I hereby challenge you to do so.

Congratulations!