More than 400 students and their proud families converged on UTS Broadway campus over the past week and a half for the 2001 Autumn graduation program.

Sixteen graduation ceremonies were held at the Great Hall, out of 30 ceremonies that are scheduled for the year.

UTS Chancellor Sir Gerard Brennan said more than 6000 students would graduate in 2001 at ceremonies at the University's Kuring-gai and City campuses in Sydney, and overseas in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong.

A special highlight of the Autumn graduations was the awarding of 16 PhDs and seven Masters degrees by the University to students through the Faculty of Science.

The program attracted a distinguished array of occasional speakers among whom were Dr David Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of Westpac; Professor Roger Layton, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, University of New South Wales; Nanotechnology expert Dr Vijoleta Braach-Maksvytis of the CSIRO; and the Honourable John Hannaford, Adjunct Professor of the UTS Faculty of Law.

In his address at a law graduation ceremony, Professor Hannaford, a former NSW Minister, said the legal profession was set to change dramatically over the coming decades.

Professor Hannaford predicted that advocacy and preparing a case for court were likely to be the only legal services which would remain the exclusive province of lawyers.

"All other work that a solicitor now does will be regarded as legal business services and will become unregulated other than for compliance with the Trade Practices laws and the fair trading laws," he said.

Professor Hannaford also predicted significant changes to workers compensation and motor accident legislation in the years ahead.

"The current concepts of employer liability for health and rehabilitation insurance - with income guarantee insurance as well as negligence insurance - will be altered to an employee owned fully transferable income guarantee scheme."

"These schemes will most likely form part of the employees compulsory superannuation insurance," he said.