speech on graduation day
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Answer:
Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am Bimala Chapagain, an International business student from Nepal. As nervous as I am standing here today I am also proud to be sharing my experiences with you all.
First of all I would like to congratulate all of the students here including myself for finally graduating.
Every end has a new beginning. Today might be the last day for some of us as students of business school, but I believe our learning will actually start from today. When I left home, 3 years back I wasn't sure what I will get in return. I was excited but at the same time a little scared of the new reality. Finland was the first country, outside Nepal, that I would be living on my own. I was prepared to learn, explore, make new friends and get to know me as an individual self. Before Finland, there was always someone to guide me, my teachers in schools, my elders and my mom. But here I was starting a journey where I set the rules and guided myself. It had finally occurred to me that I had to leave my comfort zone and live a new reality. But today as I stand here, I am proud to say that I had made the right decision to come to Finland.
Every little encounters and experiences gained here in Finland has been enriching and will remain within my memories for life long. Be it taking part in Demola project, Oulu ses projects, selling foods in ravintola päivä or the internship projects.
Talking from a graduating student's perspective, I believe the stories created beyond the boundaries of the University have been equally helpful to the graduates. Everyone here has had their own share of excitement and stories that they will carry along their life. As a student of Oulu Business School, I have had a very different experience. The teaching style, the lectures, were very different from what I had experienced in my home country, and therefore for the first quarter of my semester, I was still a confused soul. I didn’t really understand the procedure, even though I attended each lectures. For me the initial challenge was always to locate my next lecture hall. I was late almost every day in the lectures because no matter how many times I looked into the map, I still couldn't figure out the lecture halls, and sometimes I simply overslept because outside was too dark for me to believe that it was time to wake up. This slowly changed and I started adjusting to the system here because I had friends and professors who were eager to help and guide me and for that I am really grateful.
The best thing about the education system here in Finland is that they let you choose your own speed, you are not judged by the scores in your grade-sheet. The various current-issue studies, the case works, group works the research projects, the assignments, each were helping me develop skills, which of-course at that time I wasn't ready to accept.The practical approach here in the education system is what makes the business school a world class choice for international students like me. Thank you for improving every day, and helping us be in align with the current market condition through your developed policies.
I would also like to specially mention the “Kummi-family” culture that the university has adopted to help the international student learn the cultures of the Finnish society.
The Oulu Business School has been adopting various change models to upgrade their standards every day and this is very commendable, but at the same time I would also like to suggest that the business school help the students connect with the businesses for internships and or on-campus hiring. It is difficult to even get an internship for international students, so if the university provided students with networking opportunities with companies that hire business students to be specific, it would help us practically implement our learnings and build a career. One might say that there is a networking day called the "Pesti-Päivä", but in these three years’ time, I have realized that in this day, companies are only looking for engineers and not business students.
My request to Finnish Business houses and start-ups: Don't just hire engineers, engineers are good at building products, but business graduates are better at selling those ideas. If not then we wouldn't be spending our precious years to studying business, we would all be engineers.
International universities provide an opportunity for both national and international students to network, share each other's culture, and make this world a global village. This is a huge opportunity for us students. Let us not just keep the friendship within the case or group assignments but help each other build bilateral trade/business relations with our respective countries.
Finally congratulations once again and wish us good luck with the future ahead. Have a great day. :D