"The superpower I want to share with you is: Talk to people. And don’t limit yourself to those you already know. Talk to as many people with as many different opinions as you can find – ideally, someone who thinks the opposite of you. Then you’ll realise that the world is full of strange people, just like yourself."
That was one of the key messages from Nicolai Tangen, CEO of the Norwegian Oil Fund, who addressed the new students at the Kristiansand campus on 10 August.
UiA is welcoming around seven thousand new students this autumn, and many of them attended the opening of the academic year at the University of Agder’s campuses in Kristiansand and Grimstad.
The day included, amongst other things, the official opening ceremony, orientation meetings for the degree programmes and the start of freshers’ week
In her speech, Rector Sunniva Whittaker reminded the audience that acquiring and developing new knowledge requires a great deal of effort. She also emphasised that students need to be able to distinguish knowledge from mere opinion through critical thinking and critical reading.
"If you do not think well and if you do not write well, others will do the thinking for you. Orwell wrote this a few years after the Second World War as a warning against allowing oneself to be seduced by authoritarian forces. Critical thinking is a prerequisite for a healthy democratic society,” said Whittaker.
The rector also joined in to welcome new students as they moved into the student accommodation at Lund Torv, as you can see here:
The welcome for new students continues throughout the week, featuring concerts, film screenings and other events.