This is Commemoration Day at Glasgow University and Professor Sir Kenneth Calman, the university’s Chancellor, will be presiding over an honorary graduation ceremony at which the  international student anthem, Gaudeamus Igitur, Juvenes Dum Sumus, will feature.

Here is his reflection on the lessons of the song for young and old.

GAUDEAMUS IGITUR, SENIORES DUM SUMUS

We looked back across the square to the castle

Heidelberg's great ornament, and the guide said

Remember the Student Prince and hear the students,

Carousing and Singing Gaudeamus Igitur

~

It took me back in nostalgia to my student days in Glasgow

A university 70 years younger than Heidelberg

Where I first learned the words and the music

And they flooded back again, with the memories

~

And more recent ones too, at graduations

Where the words are sung by the students

As the academic procession comes into the great hall,

Relatives and friends listening and joining in

~

Gaudeamus Igitur, - therefore let us rejoice

While we are still young, with energy and ideals

And as we get older the troubles of age appear

We know that soon we will return to the earth

~

Here, as I stood in the square, I wondered

About these words and their meaning

Is it really true that age brings troubles?

I beg to disagree! Is it not also a time for hope and joy?

~

Age brings its own rewards and happiness

It generates its own ideas and thoughts

You can still have energy and excitement

And all life's lessons learned can help

~

Gaudeamus igitur, seniores dum sumus

Gaudeamus igitur, vivamus floreamus

Let us therefore rejoice, we have reached old age

Therefore let us rejoice and enjoy it!

~

Another verse praises academia

And that they should live long and flourish

Now that I agree with and support!

But the heart remains, Gaudeamus Igitur

~

Whether we are young or old

Life is to be enjoyed to the full

Student or professor, ideals matter

Gaudemaus igitur, vivamus floreamus