CQU Sydney International Campus held 2 graduation ceremonies on the same day for the first time recently (Dec 13).

The ceremonies, which commenced at 11am and 3pm, involved 496 students from 33 countries crossing the stage to receive their awards.

Both ceremonies were held at Star City, overlooking Darling Harbour and Sydney Harbour.

The guest speaker was Warren Reed (pictured), an adjunct professor in the School of Justice Studies, Faculty of Law at the Queensland University of Technology.

Earlier in his career, as an Australia-Japan Business Co-operation Committee Scholar, Warren carried out research on Japan’s relations with China and the rest of Asia in the Law Faculty of Tokyo University. He then worked for an Australian resources company in Japan, before being recruited into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

After training with MI6 in London, he served as an intelligence officer for 10 years in Asia and the Middle East. Later, he worked as a consultant to Australian firms operating in Asia, published a number of books on the region and also worked for 3 years as chief operating officer of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

Recently, Warren has been occupied in writing, lecturing and commenting in the media on intelligence and security matters.

Mr Reed told the graduates he "had a lot to learn because my classical Western upbringing had not equipped me to understand that different peoples in different cultures could think in vastly different ways to myself... for me, Japan was a rapid and steep learning curve”.

Mr Reed then went on to congratulate the graduands on what they have achieved and their future journey, which has just begun.

"The world is an incredibly diverse place and to learn about the differences and to understand not only where they’re coming from, but also the merits they have, is exciting ... while globalisation at one level binds us together as a unified community, it doesn’t ... eradicate the differences. I hope it never does".