Record number of students graduate
Around 130 Exeter College Higher Education students will don their caps and gowns on today (Friday 24 October and take to the streets to process through the city for their Graduation Ceremony, which is being held at Exeter Cathedral at 3.00pm.
With the Cathedral providing the stunning backdrop to the formal ceremony, the College’s largest cohort of graduates to date will be joined by over 500 guests to celebrate their achievements at this spectacular event, including the Lord Mayor, representatives of Exeter College and its Board of Governors, VIPs from Devon’s schools, colleges, business and community partners and the graduates’ families and friends.
The guest speaker this year will be Professor Alison Wolf CBE, The Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London and expert on vocational education and training and on the relationship between education, gender and the labour market. Professor Wolf has been awarded a life peerage this week in an announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office for her proven track record of public service. Baroness Wolf has also been involved in the development of the first specialist maths free school in London – an important link to Exeter since the University of Exeter and Exeter College have just opened the country’s second specialist maths free school in the city.
Also attending the ceremony will be senior representatives from the College’s partner Universities of Exeter, Plymouth, Kingston and St Mark and St John as well as City and Guilds and Pearson awarding bodies who, along with the Principal, Richard Atkins, will officially acknowledge the graduates of 2014.
The students, of all ages and from all over Devon and the South West, will be awarded qualifications ranging from BA to Foundation Degrees, HNCs and HNDs in a range of subjects offered at the College. Exeter College’s Higher Education provision includes Aircraft Engineering, Computing, Coaching and Fitness, Health and Social Care and Construction as well as university level qualifications for Education and Leadership amongst others.
This year students from the Flybe Aircraft Engineering programme will be remembering their talented and hardworking colleague, Richard Smith, who sadly passed away in the summer from a rare illness. Richard’s family will be collecting his certificate on his behalf from Dr Peter Barrington from Kingston University and the congregation will pay tribute to Richard.
Speaking of the ceremony, Exeter College Principal, Richard Atkins, praised the graduating students saying "I am delighted that so many of our higher education students have turned out to this celebratory event at the Cathedral. We have been offering higher education programmes for many years, including professional qualifications and degree programmes, in partnership with our Universities and awarding bodies and we are delighted to have our own dedicated graduation ceremony. Many of our students are juggling work and home commitments with their academic studies and this prestigious occasion, our seventh Ceremony at the Cathedral, truly reflects their achievements. We hope that the day gives a real sense of how proud the College is of our students’ success and we are delighted to have the opportunity to share this with their families and friends."
Julie Skinner, Assistant Principal who oversees the university level provision said "This is one of the highlights of our year for our university level students and I am delighted that we are celebrating this special occasion with colleagues, families and friends. The day marks many individual successes such as Ursula Goliath, our graduate who has been selected for the Academic Partnership Prize from the University of Plymouth. We wish all our graduates all the best in their future."
