Graduation Ceremonies

[Oldowl]

Will they all be cancelled this year?

LSE has just announced that they are cancelling the July graduation ceremonies and these will not be re-scheduled for a future date.

I feel desperately sorry for students graduating this year as they have lost the on-campus experience for half their course and now will not even have a graduation ceremony.

Most were cancelled last year so I suspect this year's will go the same.

Dd's boyfriend had his graduation cancelled last year and I expect dd's to be cancelled this year. Have to admit I am gutted - mainly for her but also a little bit for me.

The graduations at our institution are booked years in advance so I'd imagine they will be cancelled. On the bright side at least it will save your hands from 2 hours of constant clapping.

A lot of the unis hold a virtual (yes, zoom!) graduation. My friend's daughter graduated last year and they still celebrated by having a small party in the garden (of 6!)
Her daughter had photos in the garden with champagne, balloons etc which I saw on Facebook and everyone posted congrats messages etc.

It's still worth trying to celebrate and mark the occasion.

Durham has just cancelled its re-scheduled 2020 graduation ceremony which was supposed to happen in April, also it's 2021 ceremony, but it it very clear that these will both take place in the normal way when the situation allows.

So what d you suggest, OP? What actually should universities do?

put everybody at risk?

Of course it’s sensible to cancel if things are still risky but it’s also ok to be disappointed- especially if the uni is not planning to reschedule once it is safe. Dd is just finishing a 6 year degree & it is such a shame she & her classmates may miss out.

It'd be good to mark it somehow, yourselves, but graduation ceremonies really aren't that fun. You sit for hours and hours listening to reams and reams of names and watching strangers walk across a stage. If it's off, you're not missing out on much fun.

You're in a big room, with hundreds of students plus parents from all over the country, with all kinds of bugs. There's no way you could run it covid-secure.

I don't think universities really have a choice.

They aren't going to reschedule it at all? That seems ridiculously unfair.

Yes the ceremony itself can be dull but I have also seen families so happy & excited to be there - especially if it’s the first family member to graduate. And it is a milestone & the students usually socialise with their friends in the evening.

No one is suggesting they should take place in person, just wishing they could, in the same way we dream about having holidays again.

I'm an academic. I've been going to graduation ceremonies on & off since my own PhD graduation about 30 years ago. I love them, and don't find them boring.

But they are not safe at the moment. Most universities have fallen over themselves to try to offer an online alternative.

Rescheduling three years' worth of ceremonies into live events is an Everest of a task. It would require a staff resource which is just not sustainable at the moment - my university, for example, has lost at least 10 million this last year just in rents refunded. And the extra staff & other resource needed to get us online has cost around 8 million. And the unpaid overtime of academic staff ... I'm working 7 days a week at the moment.

It may be 3 hours of boring clapping - except for your DC's moment on the stage - but it's an enormous input of staff time (much of it offered FREE) for 10 days each year - how we'd do 3 years' worth just makes me want to cry.

The 'York from the air' video I found on YouTube and posted on another thread for those whose DC had applied there without being able to visit was taken from a virtual graduation ceremony (for Humanities, I think - obviously the 'campus tour was the only bit I was interested in and I assume only the actual 'attendees' could see the ceremony itself), so some universities at least do seem to have both the desire and the facility to do something other than just cancel altogether.

I actually rather enjoyed mine, which was held in the Royal Albert Hall. Possibly aided by a large G&T from the bar beforehand, I freely admit. I know that my mum enjoyed it, although DH was probably bored rigid.

Personally, I have no problem at all in celebrating the achievements of a procession of other people's DC.

@QueenoftheAir - please don't take my post as any kind of dig at yours (you obviously type much more quickly than I do, because it wasn't there when I started!). I did say and the facility.

so some universities at least do seem to have both the desire and the facility to do something other than just cancel altogether

Yes, we did a series of online ceremonies, and virtual celebrations. My place always does a good line in fizz and cake afterwards, so we had to provide our own ...

I've loved each and every graduation of my older six DC. Every single one has been a really special and happy occasion, with all the young people in celebratory mode and drink and food flowing on lovely summer's days. I think Durham will keep to its promise. Apart from anything else, the ceremonies bring a lot of money in for the local economy which is badly hit by students not returning for so long and the uni is very conscious of that.

@QueenoftheAir I have no idea what the alternative could be. Universities have no choice but to cancel as these are mass gatherings and super-spreader events.

I was fortunate that I graduated a month after results and enjoyed a champagne celebration on the lawn of a castle after the ceremony. My SIL did not have her graduation until the following February after her results.

I am desperately sad that this year's graduates will miss out on this part of university, but understand logistically rearranging is problematic too.

As others have said I do understand why the ceremonies are cancelled but I have very fond memories of my own graduation (despite the pouring rain) and felt a real sense of achievement. I really want dd to have that too. Also as she is an only child with a small extended family it would be her chance to have a bigger celebration.

I loved my graduation, it was such a sense of achievement. It will be a real shame if this opportunity is lost.

Last year my uni's students got a print out and hold up to your head while you bung it on instagram mortar board template!

I'm hoping by next year we can have them because I really think it would be positive for my daughters to see their mum graduate at that point in their lives (middle primary age) to make the link between the stuff I've being doing and the end product of it. I could take it or leave it myself - but I think that the kids seeing it happen would be valuable.

My ds's graduation was supposed to be last summer, was moved to September for students only, was cancelled again. A certificate turned up in the post. I was sad at the time for him. But more sad that he missed the fun of after exams at university he was going to have had.

But it's just been another thing we've got used to missing out on. He's more bothered about the first year after university life going AWOL. But he's learnt to be very pragmatic.

My son from last year thinks his will still be held by his faculty but it is getting less and less likely. I still have my gown, mortar board and hood so in January I dressed each twin in them for what will probably be the only graduation photo they will ever get. They actually turned out very well. We got out my graduation photo and their 3 older sibilings' and set it up to be in the same position etc.

..and the hotel refunded me the full £600 I had paid in Jan 2020 for the July 2020 graduations too thankfully.