The following is a graduation address by Prof. Murshed, given to graduating students of Monash University.

Convocation Speech

Manzur M. Murshed

MR. Chancellor, Mr. Vice Chancellor, Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, and Dear Graduands,

Good afternoon. I would like to thank the University for the honour of addressing you on this very special day.

May I begin by offering my congratulations to you all who have just been graduated. This is indeed one of the defining moments in your life. A degree from this largest Australian university, which has achieved a world-wide reputation with respectable ranking among the world universities in a remarkably short period of time, will certainly give you the edge and opportunity to work for any organisation almost anywhere you want. This is more so true today when we are living in a golden age with the lowest unemployment rate for decades.

While we are celebrating your endurance and hard work in getting through your degrees, it also gives you the opportunity today to show your gratitude towards your support network. I refer to not only the teaching and admin staff of the University but also people outside the campus e.g. your parents, spouses, partners, children, other members of your extended family, and so many friends. You could not have done it without their support. So to speak, this day is indeed to celebrate family pride and strengthen friendship.

I would now take this opportunity to address a few issues concerned with values, obligations, and responsibilities that have close ties with your hopes and ambitions. First, I would like to remind you that this may be the end of your study but certainly not the end of your learning, even if you have earned today the highest degree. A university degree merely prepares you for a life long journey of learning where you are expected to blend your experience with your knowledge to develop wisdom. What describes this better than our University's motto “Ancora Imparo,” which means “I am still learning.” The world is changing constantly. While this poses a much greater challenge for you but you should not be afraid of bracing these changes as greater opportunities always lie ahead.

Second, no doubt that you have to earn for living and I am sure that many of you will earn a good living. However, it is your professionalism that will eventually give you the lasting reward. The knowledge you have acquired in the course of your education should be rendered to provide the most appropriate service to your clients and in doing so you must not enter in the conduct of an enterprise-intent of making just the most profits.

Third, you have a moral obligation to use your knowledge to help make this world a better place, not just for you but for others as well. The satisfaction you will receive in helping out the less fortunate people is unparallel to any other worldly benefits. Do not be afraid of taking refuge to your innersole. You will be surprised how often this will help you to get rid of unnecessary complications in life.

Fourth, you must never lose sight of the big picture. Quite often we take our gifts and opportunities for granted. This is more so true in a prosperous country like Australia. Consequently, we feel deprived when our hopes are not realised. We should not forget that half the worldnearly three billion peoplelive on less than three Australian dollars a day. Nearly a billion people today are unable to read a book or sign their names. So, the next time you feel down, I would advise you to take a moment and think how lucky you have already been. Fifth, have a life outside your career. You must enjoy life and not simply live through it. Your community engagements, be it participating in sports or volunteering in charities, would not only keep you refreshed and recharged at work but also extract many unknown potentials out of you.

Last but not the least, do not fear to dream. You must aim high and plan accordingly to fulfill your dreams. Never lose sight of your dreams and be prepared to work hard, avail the opportunities, and keep trying. You don't know where you will end up. I had a dream of teaching for an internationally reputed university. I knew I had to earn a PhD degree to fulfill my dream and getting scholarships from any reputed university was not that easy for a Bangladeshi. Those of you who are still guessing, I am a proud Bangladeshi- Australian. I am indebted to Prof. Mohammad Kaykobad at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology to encourage me working on some research works outside my undergraduate study program. I had to sacrifice a few leisurely hours a week but I knew I had to do it. I eventually co-authored my first research paper in an international journal out of that while still an undergraduate student. I believe this article played an important role to convince world-renowned computer scientist Prof. Richard Brent at the Australian National University to offer me full scholarship to pursue my PhD degree under his supervision. The rest of my life is pretty straightforward.
Even beforecompleting that degree, Monash University offered me a lecturer position in the Gippsland Campus in 1999. Monash University has been such a rewarding place for me to work in. I am now heading the Gippsland School of IT, which was never in my dream in the first place. The lesson you can learn from this brief biography is that you have the whole world in your hands and I am sure your dreams will take you one day to the destiny you deserve.

This campus in particular is proud to host many international students, many of whom will return home to make important contributions to the development of their respective countries and societies. Those of you who will remain here will share the new generation of leadership, along with the Australian students, to foster excellence, pragmatism, and above all humanity so that Australia remains an egalitarian society of good global citizens. Universities are always regarded as the place to promote and encourage “free thinking.” I would like to remind you that the burden of education comes with our commitment to speak out publicly on important issues. Perhaps Voltaire's famous quote would summarise the extent of this burden:

“While I strongly disagree with what you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Today I will conclude my address quoting a poem of my favourite Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore from his Nobel Prize winning work Gitanjali:

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

I have always been obsessed by the simplicity of Tagore's expressing such eternal thoughts. If you find that it reads more like a prayer, you won't be far from the truth. The original Bengali poem, which Tagore himself translated as above, was titled “Prayer,” which is perhaps as relevant today as it was then under the British colonialism. The country “where the mind is without fear” is the only country in which true scholarship can engage with the great issues of society. I pray for you all to live in such a country.

Once again, I congratulate you and wish you a fulfilling and exciting professional career.

(MANZUR M. MURSHED, PhD(ANU)
Head of School
Gippsland School of Information Technology
Monash University, Gippsland Campus Churchill Vic 3842, Australia
Monash Provider No. 00008C)