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It is with great pleasure that I participate in tonight's graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Cyprus. My presence here on behalf of the State is a mark of honour, both to our students, who will receive their coveted degrees tonight, and to the Council, the Senate, the Rectorial Authorities and the academic, research and administrative staff of the University of Cyprus.
The University of Cyprus, the first public university established in our country in 1989, has an admirable track record of uninterrupted progress and brilliant distinctions at international level, of which all Cypriots are rightly proud. And let me say that, having myself graduated from the Department of History and Archaeology, I feel doubly proud tonight.
Moreover, the continuous rise of the University in international rankings confirms what I have mentioned above, but also testifies to the serious and multi-level work produced by the human resources of the Institution.
One of the most recent successes of the University is its inclusion among the top 1000 higher education institutions in the world by the International University Rankings. Specifically, the University of Cyprus was ranked 473rd, after evaluating thousands of universities in dozens of countries. I am sure that very soon it will climb even higher in the relevant rankings.
Knowledge - Research - Innovation. The motto of the University of Cyprus reflects its commitment not only to the dissemination of existing scientific knowledge, but also to the production of new knowledge through research and innovation, knowledge that will enable us to meet modern challenges, contribute to the evolution of human societies, to the achievement of sustainable development and to the creation of a better future for people, with a significantly better quality of life. It is a great honour for me to have this opportunity to speak on such a special day in your life.
Tonight's ceremony marks the completion of a period that you will always look back on with a smile and nostalgia. Student years. Full of new knowledge and skills, friends and experiences. With this dose of sweet melancholy, gleefulness hovering in the air, as it does at every closing of a chapter and with the excitement of your new beginning diffused in the atmosphere at the same time, I would like to share with you two of the most interesting stories I learned in my travels around the world in my previous capacity as a diplomat, which I have mentioned again at the University of Cyprus Graduate Student Graduation Ceremony in 2021, then in my capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The first is the story of a tree, the bamboo. When the seeds of this beautiful plant, which is particularly widespread in Asia, are planted, it takes five years to germinate. The farmer has to water and fertilize every day, tirelessly, without seeing a single leaf emerge from the soil. Five whole years later, once the bamboo has penetrated the soil, it will reach a height of over 25 metres in just five weeks! If in your new professional or other endeavours you feel at any time that your efforts are not succeeding, remember the story of the bamboo. Continue with patience and tenacity to water your dreams. Don't stop spreading your roots deep, building the strong foundations needed to reach high.
The second story I will tell you is the story of the paper clip, or "clip" as we tend to call it colloquially. If you travel to Norway, you will have the opportunity to see an original monument on the road. It is a huge seven-metre-high paper clip created in honour of the inventor Johan Vaaler.
Vaaler had secured a patent, the patent we all know, for a failed, squared-off version of this small but so useful invention. The paper clip, apart from being an accessory worn by Norwegians as a symbol of the country's unity and resistance against Nazism in World War II, has also emerged as a symbol of our lost childhood imagination following a scientific study on creative thinking.
In the experiment called "Break Point and Beyond", the researchers asked the participants this simple question: "What can a paper clip be useful for?" At age five, the children managed to come up with over 145 uses for the paper clip at a rate of 98%. As they grew older, between the ages of eight and ten, this figure dropped to 50%. And the capacity for creative thinking continued to decline with increasing age into adulthood and beyond, where they could barely come up with five to ten uses at best.
From the story of the paperclip I would like you to take away two messages: be aware of this lost childhood imagination and remember the importance of being resourceful and finding solutions to the problems and challenges that will be part of your everyday life.
So look for the other view!
Originality and innovation are characteristic of people who did not follow the beaten track, who challenged the barriers, managing to see things through a different lens.
The second message is a question that arises: Are we humans as staples too? That is, with countless possibilities, virtues and forms that we have simply failed to discern, neither ourselves nor the others around us? Think how many undiscovered talents you may not have identified, how many alternative forms you may take that you had not even conceived of. A paper clip is not just for connecting papers. What about us? Is there, perhaps, something more we can do with ourselves? It only remains to be discovered. So don't forget to reinvent yourself! And travel as far as you can, in your imagination or in reality. Travel will nourish you like another alma mater, like your university, with the only true wealth one carries with one: with knowledge and with experiences.
(PM/AF)
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