The Open Day: The First Day of the Rest of Someone’s Life

The Open Day: The First Day of the Rest of Someone’s Life

As an academic, I get the privilege to see the “start” (The Open Day) and “end” (the graduation) of someone’s route through Higher Education. I try never to miss these. In between, I see students flourish and, hopefully, achieve their full potential. For our undergraduates, this can be four years of some of the most important parts of their lives, and where we can share the ups and help with the downs. Of course, there is no real start and end to your education, as it is all part of a journey of knowledge discovery throughout our lives.

And, so, on Saturday, we open our doors and invite in those who are interested in our work. And, so, perhaps someone in your family is interested in applying for a course, and wants to know more, or where you are interested in coming to study with us in the future, or that you just want to find out about what happens in our university?

And, so, apart from graduations, the Open Day is one of my favouriate days of the academic year, and when my university opens its doors and welcomes its guests:

For many of us, we may forget our first footsteps in Higher Education — but it was possibly one of the most important decisions we ever made in our lives. We may remember the excitement of meeting people who would become our friends for life — and who helped us when things were difficult. But, overall, education changes our world and generally makes us more confident, resilient and able to take ownership and control of our lives. Few people ever regret studying for an academic qualification — it opens up so many doors in our lives.

In Higher Education, we meet amazing people, some ordinary people, and some not-so-amazing people — but it’s all part of the learning process. We might meet people who inspire us with new ideas and with their passions in seeing things differently. We might hear about things that we never could have imagined. But, it always changes us for the better and, hopefully, sets us up for the rest of our lives.

At Edinburgh Napier University, we are inclusive and support many ways to study and many routes into, out off, and back into education. And, we have a special secret … Edinburgh … and which is one of the best cities on the planet to study in. It is achingly beautiful and has always held education at its heart. It lives and breaths on its knowledge base, and its success is mainly due to its ability to attract smart people from around the world to come and study in the city — and hopefully, stay.

So, please do not forget how special this day is for our future students — it could change their lives, and allow them to embark on a whole new world of discovery.

If you are coming along, please register here:

If you want to hear about our amazing work in cybersecurity and computer science, we will be running sessions alongside the Tower where John Napier invented logarithms

and demos in our JKCC:

Our future is fully dependent on those at school now and those who will graduate soon, and so we need to do everything we can to encourage them to build a better future for our society and drive us into the future. Our classrooms host the leaders of the future.

So, never stop learning! And, if you have benefited from your education, go give something back and help others on their route of discovery. Be a great mentor to someone.