Good morning/afternoon and a warm welcome to the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. I am Professor Jon Garibaldi, the Provost of UNNC. It is my pleasure to extend our greetings to each of you, on behalf of our diverse and dynamic community.
Some of you have travelled thousands of miles; others have come from just down the road. Wherever you started, you have all made an excellent choice.
UNNC is a very special university in Ningbo China — “a city built on wisdom” — where people and ideas have met for centuries. We are a truly international institution, offering you a comprehensive education and preparing you for the next chapter in your life.
UNNC helps shape your future, but not “for you”; the opportunity is in your hands; own it.
Your comfort zone is your ceiling
Some of you may see university as a break after years of hard study. Others may see it as yet another marathon of constant deadlines and endless goals. In my opinion, neither view captures what university life is really about.
For me, it is a workshop, and you are the raw material. The greatest pitfall is staying comfortable. If you stick with the same people, the same routines, the safe modules, then you will graduate with a degree, but without real growth.
Growth lives at the edge of discomfort. So I challenge you: take a challenging module; join a society where you know no one; listen to voices different from your own. That is where education comes alive.
This is not about burning out. It is about waking up. Do not waste this opportunity by always playing safe: choose growth!
Beyond the algorithm
Speaking of the unknown, let me turn to my area — artificial intelligence.
I completed my master’s degree in AI in 1990, when very few people knew what it was. More than 35 years later, AI is everywhere.
AI can generate text, write code and analyse enormous amounts of information. Used wisely, it can be an extraordinary tool. But it does not possess empathy, assume moral responsibility or understand human experience as we do. Its answers are not a substitute for your judgement.
These qualities are precisely what a UNNC education is designed to develop. Do not outsource the “why” questions to a machine. Use AI, but you should question it; challenge it. You must remain responsible for what you think, create and decide. These qualities are what will make you valuable, and irreplaceably human.
Follow curiosity, not just a plan
Let me finish with some personal observations.
My first degree was in physics. If you had asked me at graduation where my life would lead, I would never have imagined that I would end up here. Later, I studied AI simply because I was curious, and that same curiosity led me through my experience as a software engineer, a master’s degree, and through to completing a PhD without being entirely certain that I wanted one.
I never had a perfect five-year plan. I have simply tried to do each task well and followed what genuinely interested me. Plans can be useful, but never let them become prisons. You don’t need to have a perfect plan right now.
If you do today’s work well, tomorrow will take care of itself. Be present. Try things. Fail sometimes. Learn every time. Follow your curiosity and do good work, and you may find yourself somewhere worthwhile — perhaps somewhere you never imagined.
Sitting here today, your graduation day and leaving UNNC may seem far distant; but, believe me, when you do arrive at that day, you will likely be amazed at how fast the time has passed.
So, relish and enjoy the process. It is not a detour from success; it is the destination itself. Welcome to UNNC. Be brave, be curious, and own your journey.
Thank you.