‘Graduates are well prepared’

Press, 14 July 1982, Page 5

‘Graduates are well prepared’

PA Wellington Otago University’s ViceChancellor. Dr Robin Irvine, has defended universities against several “blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits" in an address to the Wellington Rotary Club. He said the fables and deceits are trotted out frequently through jealousy, fear, or ignorance, or for short-term political gain to divert attention from pressing problems. They included claims that universities churned out graduates ill-prepared for life, that graduates found it harder to obtain jobs, and that university staff preferred esoteric research rather than activity likely to make a bigger contribution to material welfare and economic growth. However. Dr Irvine said that all but a handful of

students knew just where they were heading vocationally. while 92 per cent of graduates who sought employment found jobs within a few weeks of completing examinations. Much of the research at the Otago University was related immediately to problems of national importance such as lignite coal use. but there was a place for pure research as well as applied, he said. "Universities do matter." he said. "They care about the needs of society, they produce people who quickly find responsible posts, they contribute to economic growth, they serve as a sounding board for new ideas without getting embroiled in social and political policy, and their life and work are inextricably linked with the communities they serve."