By Caitlin Kirkley, Esha Sancee and Charlie Dowey
Last week De Montfort University (DMU) students across a range of faculties returned to Leicester’s Curve Theatre for their graduation ceremonies.
Family and friends filled the theatre, all desperately waiting to see loved ones cross the stage and celebrate their achievements.
The university also ensured that those who could not attend in-person still felt part of the day thanks to the livestreams posted to the university’s YouTube channel.
Importantly, the Covid pandemic resulted in big changes for graduation ceremonies at that time, because of social distancing measures leading to some understandable disappointment, but this year things were different.
Student Manali Jain, who was awarded her Master of Science in Strategic & Digital Marketing, said she was “over the moon” with the experience she had at her recent graduation ceremony.
She noted that the ceremony ran smoothly from start to finish and there was plenty of assistance from staff ‘at every step.’
On the day, she received a free DMU badge as well as a bag and described the event as ‘the biggest day of her life.’
Her family were able to view everything directly from the YouTube livestream. The use of the livestream extended the reach of the ceremony allowing people to view the event from around the world.
Additionally, all livestreams can be watched back endlessly by the graduates themselves for those looking to relive their moment of stardom.
Lecturer Brian Dodds was among those staff on the platform stage to congratulate graduating Journalism students last Thursday.
He stated that after graduations had to be postponed for some students for up to two years due to the pandemic, the recent ceremony was a “joyous moment full of pride and achievements which was wonderful to see.”
He followed this, saying that the day is full of important moments, not only the formal ceremony but it also includes spending time with loved ones and having lots of photos taken.
In summary, he described it as a heartwarming and ‘proud moment’ to finally see students that he has worked with for several years complete their studies.
Find more at: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/home.aspx
20.02.2023
