Graduation ceremonies under way

Over 3,100 students will receive their awards over the course of the nine day celebration

TODAY, Monday 10 July, the University of Huddersfield embarks on nine days of graduation ceremonies, where 3,128 students will receive their awards in person across 32 ceremonies.

The ceremonies will be held in the University’s St Paul’s Hall, and during the first week there will be a series of seven honorary awards conferred on distinguished men and women from fields that include science, business, medicine and politics.

Honorary Awards

Lord David Blunkett, Professor David Leaper, Roger Marsh OBE, Professor Mario Neto Borges, Sir John Parker, Professor Dame Carol Robinson, Baroness Susan Williams — Honorary award recipients (l-r) Lord David Blunkett, Professor David Leaper, Roger Marsh OBE, Professor Mario Neto Borges, Sir John Parker, Professor Dame Carol Robinson and Baroness Susan Williams

At the opening ceremony, an Honorary Doctorate of the University will be presented to Professor Mario Neto Borges, a leading figure in Brazilian education who studied for his PhD at Huddersfield. Later ceremonies on Monday see presentations to Sir John Parker, a major business figure with a notable role in the revival of British shipbuilding and Roger Marsh OBE, who chairs the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, the largest of its kind outside London.

On Tuesday 11 July, there will be Honorary Doctorates for Dame Carol Robinson, an internationally-renowned scientist who is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and Baroness Williams of Trafford, a Minister of State at the Home Office and a University of Huddersfield graduate.

There will also be an Emeritus Professorship conferred on David Leaper, a distinguished surgeon and lecturer who became Professor of Clinical Sciences at the University of Huddersfield in 2013.

On Friday 14 July, an Honorary Doctorate of the University will be bestowed on one of Britain’s best-known politicians, David Blunkett, now Lord Blunkett of Brightside and Hillsborough. As a Sheffield MP, he was leading cabinet minister during the Labour governments of the later 1990s and the early 2000s, holding posts that included Home Secretary. In 1973, he studied for Certificate in Education here at Huddersfield.

In addition to the awards to hundreds of graduate and postgraduate degrees, there will also be more than 70 special prizes for star students, and 13 Chancellor’s Prizes for the undergraduates who achieved the best results in their coursework.

In addition to the students receiving their awards, there will also be thousands of family of friends joining for the ceremonies and the celebrations on campus.

A further 748 students who have graduated in 2017 are unable to attend the ceremonies.