Sep 21 - “A Day Of Huge Pride For All Our Community” – Chief Minister's Address As New University Opens
The following is the full text of a speech delivered earlier today at the official opening of the University of Gibraltar by the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you so much for joining us on this truly auspicious occasion.
A red letter day indeed for Gibraltar.
A day of huge pride for all our Community.
The day in which we become a University City.
We have heard so much today about the great things that are already planned for this place.
We have heard so much about the planning and execution of the works.
And we can see just how magnificent the final product delivered is.
Frankly it is staggering that we had two thousand people come and see the installations this weekend alone.
But it is an indication of the acceptance that this project has had amongst us.
Because this is a long overdue project.
Because the people who came to see these buildings in wonder at what has been achieved realise that this is only the beginning.
Because this will now became a place of advanced learning and advanced research.
And a place to which we will attract students from all over the world.
Creating a new industry in Gibraltar which more than justifies investing part of our record surpluses into this fantastic venture.
Indeed, already we can see that we have been lucky to have assembled an Academic Board that has little to envy more established institutions.
And all that has only been possible because of the hard work, dedication and sheer tenacity of the professional teams that we have assembled.
Whether it is the project team at the Department of Education, the project team at Casais or the University team itself, ALL have achieved incredible things in record time.
Gilbert has already detailed the sincere gratitude of the Government to each of those who have been involved in the making today happen.
But I want to go behind that work today.
I want to go back to remind you of how this has been made possible.
Today is the first day of the autumn.
We are in the last one hundred days of the lifetime of this Parliament.
And it seems like only yesterday that, now almost exactly four years, I typed the following ten words into a document that would become the GSLP/Liberal manifesto for the 2011 General Election:
“The University of Gibraltar will commence operations within four years…”
And so, on the 13th of December, Gilbert Licudi walked out of No 6 Convent Place as Minister for Education with the relevant pages of the manifesto which dealt with education under his arm, and started the work of delivering, not just two new schools, but also a University.
Incidentally, as he is a man of the sea, I also asked him to build us a new 700 berth marina in his spare time.
Last week, as you know, we opened the two new schools at St Bernard’s.
This week, he delivers to us a University that would be the pride of any small nation.
And the fact is that with these magnificent university facilities, as with so much else that we have delivered, everything is a team effort.
The Captain of any ship stands on the bridge and trusts those who he works with in a team.
You cannot be in the engine room and in the kitchen and on the bridge all at the same time if you want to get safely into port.
And Gilbert Licudi is exactly the sort of person who you can trust to deliver the goods in the engine room of government.
But you don’t just have to take it from me.
Today you can look around you and see what he has done in establishing the University.
Today you can see what he has done at St Bernard’s.
And you can see what he is doing and almost now finished in the centre of the harbour.
I have been very lucky to have him as part of the team I lead and Gibraltar has been lucky to have his talent at its disposal.
And I speak as highly of all other ministers in the Government.
All have contributed in their areas to deliver well beyond expectations of what a Government might be able to achieve in just four years.
In coming weeks I will no doubt have a chance to highlight the brilliant contributions and the sheer hard work of all ten of the ministers I have had the pleasure to work with.
But it is in education that the GSLP has always led well ahead of the pack.
And this is the crowning achievement of that leadership.
Sincere congratulations to Gilbert and all his development teams.
In 1988 we led when we introduced compulsory scholarships for further education.
That was a revolution in education that others said – in echoes of siren calls I hear today - would bankrupt Gibraltar.
We were right and they were wrong.
In 2011 we led when we said we would extend compulsory scholarships to second, Masters, degrees.
We led when said we would build a university and build two new schools.
We were right to do deliver on our commitments.
We are right to invest in the future, to invest in our children, by investing in education.
And last week, I announced that our future plans provide for the rebuilding and refurbishment of Bayside, Governor’s Meadow and Bishop Fitzgerald Schools.
Today you will have seen the announcement that the proposals for the redevelopment of the Rooke site provide for a new school in that area too, which could be the re-provisioning of Governor’s Meadow.
Well, we are going now into an election where we will concentrate our even more of our financial fire power in upgrading our educational establishments.
So today, I can tell you, in our manifesto for the next general election, we will also commit to new facilities for St Anne’s, St Martin’s and Notre Dame School, as well as a programme of extensive refurbishment of other schools.
This will include rolling out new e-learning facilities for children and training for teachers.
We often take our teachers for granted and the excellent results they produce as a given.
But we have to invest in them too, in the environment in which they teach and the tools we give them to teach with.
Because if we are the third largest economy in GDP per capita terms, then the state of some of our schools is not up to standard.
And the standard of some of our services is not up to scratch.
One of the areas that stands out is meal times.
When new school hours were introduced we believe our children were failed.
The new hours provided for children to stay in schools but required parents to provide their food.
So today, I am announcing that one of the highlights of our next policies for education in our coming manifesto will be that the next GSLP/Liberal Government, if we are returned to office after the next election, will provide hot meals at lunch time in all schools for all our children.
It won't be easy.
There will be logistical issues.
There will be nutritional issues.
There are sensitivities and there are no doubt 1000 reasons not to do this.
But entrust this to the team that delivered Commonwealth Park, a national bank, a new 700 Berth Marina, two new schools and a university and you know we will be able to deliver.
We have led on all big education issues to date.
And with the support and confidence of the people of Gibraltar in the coming election, we will lead again.
To ring further and deeper changes to the infrastructure of education.
To improve even more on what we do for our children.
Because already with our hard work we have built on the legacy of the evacuation generation.
With that same hard work we have built this university.
With that same hard work, we are building this Nation. Thank you.
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