New students, faculty, officers of the University and major supporters of the Blavatnik School of Government gathered last week for a celebratory dinner that marked the start of a new academic year for the School. The dinner was held at the end of a long first day for the School's MPP students, during which they got their introduction to what life will be like over the coming year.

Safak Muderrisgil, from Turkey, explained what brought her here, and her expectations of the MPP: “The Blavatnik School attracted me with its international structure in all aspects, with a practice-based curriculum provided by distinguished faculty and high-level senior speakers. The diverse and international environment of the School will be a great experience for me to learn, to exchange, to network and to grow.”

Timothy McMinn from Australia said, “I applied to study the MPP at the Blavatnik School because it offered a distinctive twelve-month intensive, multidisciplinary program, ideal for myself as a mid-career professional looking to direct my career towards public service. I'm expecting the MPP to be intellectually challenging but rewarding. I think that the enormous geographic and professional diversity of the class will guarantee this.”

Peter Kemp, Associate Director of the School and responsible for the MPP, said: "These first few days of the MPP are really important for the students. They have arrived from all over the world with a huge variety of life experiences - some having just finished their undergraduate degree, others with up to 20 years of working experience. But once they come here, they are all beginners, at the start of something special and with a whole year of the unknown ahead of them. That's a great leveller - being united in the unknown! Our aim in these first few days is to help students break out of themselves, get to know each another and begin to realise just how much they can both learn from and share with each other in this journey."

Aaron Maniam, joining the School after nine years in the Singapore government’s Administrative Service, said “A few months ago, I read an op-ed about the difficulty of forging deep new friendships as a thirty-something; our family, personal and professional commitments tend to crowd out the emerging possibilities.” He continued, “While this is generally true, it's been wonderful to find a community like the Blavatnik School, which can be the exception that proves the rule. Our first two days have been an amazing collection of energetic introductions and building a community of friends, culminating in a memorable opening dinner that included a wonderful performance by Rae Morris. It's exhilarating to know that we can only build on this in the rest of our year at Oxford!"

Dean of the Blavatnik School, Ngaire Woods, added, "We were deeply honoured that our founding donor, Len Blavatnik, and his family, as well as other wonderful supporters of the School were able to be with us at a celebratory dinner at the end of the first day. It was a really special event - a chance for some of our donors to meet students they are supporting, for students to relax and get to know each other and for everyone to take a moment to acknowledge the journey we embark on in our quest to establish a world better led, better served, and better governed."

View some images from the celebratory opening dinner, which also marked the groundbreaking of the School's new building. 

Pictured: Len Blavatnik, founder of the Blavatnik School of Government, and Ngaire Woods, Dean.