Graduation ceremonies means different things to different people and cultures. TU Delft is under pressure to create a graduation ceremony that satisfies foreign students’ higher expectations – and avoids the cock-ups that marred last year’s ceremony.
Graduating is a milestone in life, marking the end of perhaps, the most memorable period in a person’s life. For TU Delft’s foreign MSc students, graduation day also marks the end of two years of hard work and the joys and difficulties of living abroad. In short, it’s a day when one can celebrate and be proud of his or her achievements and receive the congratulations of family and friends.
Melanie Rieback, a computer science graduate from USA, who graduated from TU Delft last year, acknowledges this: “For many people it’s a big step in their lives.” Graduation ceremonies celebrate the wonderful achievements of students and also of TU Delft, which successfully educated another generation of engineers.
Precisely because of the importance of graduation day, a good organization of the ceremony is essential. This was, apparently, not the case at last year’s MSc graduation ceremony. The ceremony started late and when the graduates where called on stage to receive their diplomas, a bumbling affair unfolded: names were mixed up, students graduating with honours (cum laude) were mistaken with other students and vice versa. It was like a “one man show” is how Penia Kresnowati, an Indonesian biochemical engineering alumnus who attended the ceremony to celebrate her husband’s graduation, describes the ineptitude of the rector and his supporting staff. Kresnowati graduated from Delft the previous year and expected her husband’s graduation ceremony to be as well organized as hers was. “But it looked totally unorganised,” she recalls.
Rafael Gonza’lez, a computer science graduate from Colombia, also remarked on the apparent disorder of the ceremony: “The fact that, for example, some graduate were not present at the ceremony messed up the order of handing over the diplomas, and, obviously, the rector didn’t know our names.”
Gonza’les, Kresnowati and Riekback also missed a higher level of formality for the occasion. Anyone who has lived here for a while knows that formality and fashion aren’t Dutch priorities – wearing T-shirts to funerals, white socks to weddings, the Dutch simply are not very stylish people, preferring the informal to the formal. But not so in other countries, especially for university graduation ceremonies, which are regarded as marking a major achievement in a person’s life and therefore deserving of lavish ceremony and celebration.
Of last year’s graduation ceremony, Riekback says “it was a bit too informal. Nobody doubts the university’s good intentions, but such an important occasion should be organized professionally, because otherwise it’s a bad advertisement for the university and the students graduating from it.”
Kresnowati believes that an international graduation ceremony should be viewed as an international marketing tool by the university. “People are searching for a solid, credible institution to study at,” she says. Such an occasion, where ambassadors, friends and relatives of students from numerous countries are present is the time and place to show that the TU is such an institution. Kresnowati: “If a university can’t arrange a graduation ceremony properly, how can you trust it to organise the educational process properly?” Fair or unfair, it’s a legitimate question. After all, successful marketing demands both style and substance.
Perhaps partly as a result of last year’s graduation ceremony, the set-up of this year’s graduation ceremony – which will be held on August 19 – has changed. With Dutch higher education having switched to the Anglo-American BAMA model, the actual handing over of diplomas will take place at the various faculties. At the graduation ceremony, held in the Aula, the rector will address the graduates, special attention will be given to cum laude students, and live music will add a festive touch to the occasion.
Jin Pu, a SEPAM student from China who is graduating this summer, says the graduation ceremony means a lot to her and her family: her parents are travelling from China to Delft to celebrate her achievement. Planning to dress in traditional Chinese clothes, Jin Pu, who attended last year’s ceremony as a spectator, hopes everything will go well this year. “Most of us won’t experience a graduation ceremony again; therefore, we hope to graduate with due respect and honour,” she says.
Graduating is a milestone in life, marking the end of perhaps, the most memorable period in a person’s life. For TU Delft’s foreign MSc students, graduation day also marks the end of two years of hard work and the joys and difficulties of living abroad. In short, it’s a day when one can celebrate and be proud of his or her achievements and receive the congratulations of family and friends.
Melanie Rieback, a computer science graduate from USA, who graduated from TU Delft last year, acknowledges this: “For many people it’s a big step in their lives.” Graduation ceremonies celebrate the wonderful achievements of students and also of TU Delft, which successfully educated another generation of engineers.
Precisely because of the importance of graduation day, a good organization of the ceremony is essential. This was, apparently, not the case at last year’s MSc graduation ceremony. The ceremony started late and when the graduates where called on stage to receive their diplomas, a bumbling affair unfolded: names were mixed up, students graduating with honours (cum laude) were mistaken with other students and vice versa. It was like a “one man show” is how Penia Kresnowati, an Indonesian biochemical engineering alumnus who attended the ceremony to celebrate her husband’s graduation, describes the ineptitude of the rector and his supporting staff. Kresnowati graduated from Delft the previous year and expected her husband’s graduation ceremony to be as well organized as hers was. “But it looked totally unorganised,” she recalls.
Rafael Gonza’lez, a computer science graduate from Colombia, also remarked on the apparent disorder of the ceremony: “The fact that, for example, some graduate were not present at the ceremony messed up the order of handing over the diplomas, and, obviously, the rector didn’t know our names.”
Gonza’les, Kresnowati and Riekback also missed a higher level of formality for the occasion. Anyone who has lived here for a while knows that formality and fashion aren’t Dutch priorities – wearing T-shirts to funerals, white socks to weddings, the Dutch simply are not very stylish people, preferring the informal to the formal. But not so in other countries, especially for university graduation ceremonies, which are regarded as marking a major achievement in a person’s life and therefore deserving of lavish ceremony and celebration.
Of last year’s graduation ceremony, Riekback says “it was a bit too informal. Nobody doubts the university’s good intentions, but such an important occasion should be organized professionally, because otherwise it’s a bad advertisement for the university and the students graduating from it.”
Kresnowati believes that an international graduation ceremony should be viewed as an international marketing tool by the university. “People are searching for a solid, credible institution to study at,” she says. Such an occasion, where ambassadors, friends and relatives of students from numerous countries are present is the time and place to show that the TU is such an institution. Kresnowati: “If a university can’t arrange a graduation ceremony properly, how can you trust it to organise the educational process properly?” Fair or unfair, it’s a legitimate question. After all, successful marketing demands both style and substance.
Perhaps partly as a result of last year’s graduation ceremony, the set-up of this year’s graduation ceremony – which will be held on August 19 – has changed. With Dutch higher education having switched to the Anglo-American BAMA model, the actual handing over of diplomas will take place at the various faculties. At the graduation ceremony, held in the Aula, the rector will address the graduates, special attention will be given to cum laude students, and live music will add a festive touch to the occasion.
Jin Pu, a SEPAM student from China who is graduating this summer, says the graduation ceremony means a lot to her and her family: her parents are travelling from China to Delft to celebrate her achievement. Planning to dress in traditional Chinese clothes, Jin Pu, who attended last year’s ceremony as a spectator, hopes everything will go well this year. “Most of us won’t experience a graduation ceremony again; therefore, we hope to graduate with due respect and honour,” she says.
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