More than 340 graduands in all academic disciplines graduated in person from the university in a ceremony at the Dunedin Town Hall at 3pm on Saturday.
About 490 also graduated in absentia.
In his graduation address, Sir Wira recalled graduating with a BA in history from Canterbury University when he was an army officer based at Burnham military camp.
On the wall above Sir Wira's desk was a framed quotation which read:"A BA after your name indicates you can spell the first letters of the alphabet - but not necessarily in the right order. Welcome home boss."
This was a "salutary reminder" that the achievement of academic or other honours were "part of a journey but not the destination", Sir Wira said.
He emphasised the importance of imagination and moral courage.
Winston Churchill, in a speech to students at Harvard University in 1943, had stated that "the empires of the future are the empires of the mind".
Sir Wira, a former founding director of the Waitangi Tribunal and founding chief executive of the Department of Maori Development, added that the "limitless imagination of the mind" enabled people to move beyond "present constrained environments".
"It is to the limitless imaginations of the minds of the great scientists, astronomers, academics, literary giants that we owe the world in which we live.
"I am reminded of the exploits of my own ancestors who were not inhibited by the limits of the Pacific.
"It was to the limitless imaginations of their minds that they looked as they launched themselves across thousands of miles of uncharted ocean."
Graduates should also make their decisions and choices within a "moral framework".
"Moral courage is like a cold shower. It may be uncomfortable, but from time to time it might be necessary."
If graduates remained true to their moral values they would never be found wanting "even if your decisions have not been popular".
