Thousands celebrate graduation
0 Comments | Bath Chronicle, The, Jul 29, 2010
More than 2,000 students have taken part in graduation ceremonies at Bath Spa University. Two days of events saw degree scrolls awarded to 2,500 people dressed in the traditional robes and mortarboards to receive their scrolls.
A ceremony on Saturday saw former Beechen Cliff School pupil Tristram Shapeero, now an award-winning TV comedy director, given an honorary Doctorate of Letters for his contribution to the arts.
He said: “I’m absolutely speechless that I should be considered for this great honour.”
The departing graduates will face some of the worst prospects in Britain’s job market for decades, with the number chasing every available job having doubled since the early 1980s.
Vice-chancellor Frank Morgan said the graduates would receive continuing support from the university.
“I and all staff are well aware that the employment situation for graduates this year is particularly difficult,” he said.
“The university will continue to help its students, for example through the careers service which continues to be available for three years after graduation.”
Amid the bleak economic times, the university has had a successful year, winning a gold award in the national EcoCampus initiative, and seeing students win a number of national prizes.
Lisa Jones, who completed a BSc in biology, won the Society of Biology Top Bioscience Student prize, while the Oxford University Press Achievement in Biosciences prize was won by Amy Kilgallon for her dissertation.
Creative writing graduate Tom Clayton, who travelled to New York last year to promote a piece of fiction, said: “I feel brilliant.
“I do feel apprehensive about passing with a creative writing degree though, as it is difficult because it’s such a competitive industry at the moment, but you just have to persevere.”