University: there's no better place to be at the age of 18

Welcome to university. You’ve probably received a lot of advice about what lies ahead, but now you have to cast that aside and find your own way. Before you embark, however, can I offer a few words of wisdom? I’ve been at university (as a student or teacher) since 1973, so hear me out.

Life starts here. For most of you, this will be the first time you experience living on your own, away from the watchful gaze of parents. Even those who continue to live at home will find that family life is never quite the same. Dare I say it, but you are now officially an adult.

Be careful. Independence, like Jagermeister, is an intoxicating brew. You are now able to stay out late, drink to excess, and pursue whomever you fancy. (You may have done all that already, but possibly not with such complete abandon.) Beware, though, for the freedom to do anything often turns into a temptation to do nothing. Every once in a while you will need to remind yourself that you’re at university not simply to get a life but also to get an education.

Your time at university will probably be the most turbulent and intense period of your life. A huge horizon stretches before you; you’ll learn and you’ll love with a passion that is frightening. Not all the lessons will come from books; in fact, few of them will. The best thing you’ll learn is how to live with others.

You’ll make friendships that will endure for ever, and the times that you’ve shared with fellow students will, 50 years hence, be bathed in a warm glow. You’ll also probably fall deeply in love, since most students do – some in serial fashion. University produces what I like to call a surge in the urge to merge. So look around during that first lecture: your future spouse could be two rows back, or a few in front.

I love students. I love the fact that, every year, I come into contact with so many bright, inquisitive minds who enrich my life. Most are a credit to good parenting; I constantly find myself hoping that my own children will turn out as well-rounded, dynamic and just plain nice.

Students are the true believers in education – without them, there would be no universities. Most are hungry to learn and still idealistic enough to believe that the little chunk of knowledge they acquire might make the world a better place or, at least, make them a better person. That is what you give me – a belief that progress is still possible.

You’re an elite, but please don’t act like one. Your performance on exams has qualified you for special treatment. While others your age are struggling to find work, or being ground down by it, you have been given three or four years of cossetted treatment in a completely unreal world. The Ivory Tower beats the factory floor hands down. So enjoy yourself, but don’t forget that you have a mandate to fulfil and those who have invested in you rightfully expect a return.

A university education used to be free. It is no longer. Many of you will have to find part-time work to pay your way; some will find that poverty diminishes the educational experience. But always remember: the fees you pay are a small part of what it costs to run a university. Don’t ever forget that the costs of your education are paid in the main by the working people of Britain, the majority of whom have never had the experiences you will enjoy. Higher education is a privilege, not a right.

The football manager Paul Sturrock, a good man, deals every day with young men who take their gifts for granted. They sometimes forget that the ability to kick a ball is not enough by itself to succeed. He has constantly to remind players that if they don’t work hard, they are traitors to their talent. In order to drive that message home, Sturrock occasionally puts those who forget their good fortune on to a roof for a few hours, so that they might understand what life would be like if a living had to be made by fixing slates. There but for the grace of God go you…

A university education will bring untold riches, not all of them financial. Some of you will find your way into highly paid professions, others will land careers which pay no more than the roofer earns. But the experience should not be measured by salary alone. Wealth comes in many forms. Whatever income you eventually earn, you will one day understand that higher education is the best bargain on earth.

When I see young students chatting with new friends in coffee bars during freshers week, I can’t help but enjoy vicariously their blossoming world. There’s no better place to be at the age of 18. The real world will remain on hold while you indulge in glorious enrichment. Enjoy yourself. But don’t blow it. Don’t you dare betray the gifts you’ve been given.

Gerard DeGroot is professor of modern history at the University of St Andrews