Why I love Welcome Week!

This month many of us will welcome back our returning students, and meet our new intakes for the first time. Here are 10 reasons why I love this time of year!:

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1. Energy! - day 1 of a new academic year brings with it a buzz like no other, it’s a wave of adrenaline, and always an awesome feeling!

2. Students are our future - we are working with the generation that will be our future thinkers, leaders, global citizens. It is a responsibility and an honour to be part of their growth and development. We should always try to be the person we wish we’d had in our lives when we were at that stage of our learning.

3. An opportunity to learn - each new year is a chance to open our minds to the knowledge that our new cohort of students brings with it. Our students have skills, knowledge and experience that will make the year fresh and stimulating, and will add to who we all are as people.

4. A fresh perspective - each new group of students has a different set of priorities and focus to us, and to previous cohorts. The generation that we are welcoming this year are a social justice generation - they care deeply about society, equality, fairness, humanity and our natural world. What a privilege to support them in finding new ways to create responses to these values, passions and beliefs!

5. A chance to choose who we want to be - not many professions allow a reset every year. Each September we get the opportunity to think about how we can improve ourselves, whether through trying out new tools and software, different ways of working, or inventing new ways to nurture kindness, creativity, innovation, and collegiality.

6. The joy of colleagues - I’ve missed them! One of the highlights of my professional life is the wonderful, inspiring people that I get to work with. Reconnecting after periods of leave after the summer break is always a huge joy.

7. Celebrating the value of education - we and our students are lucky to benefit from the value and power of education, from the chance to expand our minds and make new ideas, and to absorb new perspectives into our own to help to shape our future selves. Education is important, and we must play a role in making sure it is accessible and impactful for everyone.

8. Love for our discipline - I feel lucky to spend my working life immersed in my passion for music. Many people don’t get to spend their professional life working in a field which aligns with their passion. We do.

9. Championing higher education - we have work to do. Higher education has many and complex challenges. It is up to us to be advocates and champions, and to channel our energy, enthusiasm, and expertise into evidencing what we feel and know deeply: higher education is vital to the citizens and world of the future. We are part of something bigger than us, and it is up to us to make sure that our special higher education sector can thrive.

10. It’s fun! - we work in an industry where no two days are the same, where new people join us and bring vibrant energy every year, and where we have the honor of representing our discipline internally and externally. Higher education is facing significant challenges. Our job is to rise to meet these with determination, motivation and enthusiasm, to make sure that we continue to play our part in equipping incredible and inspiring future graduates and citizens.