Let us know when you want to graduate
Earlier this year I released a survey to find out if you want to graduate in December. Some students are allowed to graduate in December, whereas others only get the option of graduating in July. You can read my previous blog here.
At the Union’s AGM on Wednesday 11th June a policy was passed to mandate the Union to lobby the University to allow December graduations for all. The policy can be found here and was passed with 188 votes for and 17 against.
I am republishing the survey to ensure that we get as many responses as possible so that we can lobby the University with a strong student voice. Please do fill it out if you are considering completing Postgraduate study or are currently completing postgraduate study.
Please fill out the survey to have your say – it takes about 2 minutes!
Waiting so long to graduate can be difficult e.g. International Students can have difficulties with the expense of travel or VISAs, many people will have jobs in different parts of the country/world so it can be difficult to travel back to Southampton.
For instance: if you are a Master’s student and finish your degree at the end of September, but your faculty doesn’t hold a ceremony in December you will have to wait until July for the opportunity to graduate. OR if you finish your PhD in August and there’s no winter graduation, you would have to wait until July the following year.
What I want to know is: do you have a preference? does it make a difference to whether you would attend graduation or not? OR does it really not matter to you?
If you’ve got any other questions or thoughts, feel free to get in contact with me via Facebook or email me on vpeducation@unionsouthampton.org.
23/05/2016 at 2:03 pm Permalink
I think its unfair that the graduation for postgraduates is almost a year late.
Applying for a visa costs a lot of money, as well as the price of tickets, hotels and other travelling expenses to come back into the United kingdom.
Some of us will not be let off work as well. It would be more accommodating if the graduation can be moved to December, as the July graduation is not favorable for International Students.
23/05/2016 at 2:10 pm Permalink
Thanks very much for your input – it’s so valuable. We’d really appreciate it if you could fill out the survey outlining these views so we can record them officially and use them to lobby the University! https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/D5873P3 Thanks 🙂
23/05/2016 at 3:54 pm Permalink
I understand it from the point of view of the faculties however, as a PhD student I would REALLY like the ability to graduate reasonably close to the completion of my research degree. I think for PhD students it’s especially bad because you first submit your PhD, then you have to wait for your viva (this is of course reasonable as your examiners have to have had a good chance to read it) then you complete any corrections and wait for the relevant examiners to sign them off and then wait for them to be ratified by the relevant boards.
I also don’t think it’s necessarily relevant for a PhD student to graduate as part of the school/unit in which they study as we’re usually disconnected from the UG/PGT students from there. (If you’re teaching I recognize that you’re likely to know your previous students graduating but this leads to a situation where it’s more ‘their day’ then yours.) For me I would like to see doctoral college graduations so that your graduation day is really yours. This would also mean that rather than having to compose an assembly of academics from your school/ unit your supervisor and another senior academic could be there (and any others the University might allow.) It would seem logical to me as part of the creation of a genuine research community, albeit the round off part before we all disappear into the future (whether that be at Southampton or elsewhere.)
23/05/2016 at 3:58 pm Permalink
Hello, thanks so much for your detailed comment! It’s a really good to hear your perspective. I will, of course, take into account this comment but please do make sure to fill out the survey so we can register your view on the stats that we produce 🙂