Deakin University hosted its largest ever series of graduation ceremonies over the past two weeks, with record-breaking numbers of students graduating from their studies.
More than 4400 students celebrated their graduations over 14 ceremonies at Deakin’s Geelong Waterfront campus between February 13 and 22, with another 2788 students graduating in absentia.
Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin said the University’s Geelong graduation ceremonies were among the most important events on the Deakin calendar.
“These celebrations are a significant milestone for our university and our graduating students. It represents the culmination of years of academic pursuit, personal growth, and perseverance,” Prof Martin said.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to each graduate and commend them for their resilience, determination, and commitment to excellence. As they transition from students to alumni, I am confident that they will continue to make meaningful contributions to their communities and beyond.”
Rebecca Bone, the university’s executive director of Student Services, said it was “very exciting” to see Deakin’s largest ever cohort of graduating students celebrate the conclusion of their studies.
“It’s a great celebration; over last week and this week we’re looking at around 15,000 people visiting,” Ms Bone said.
“This cohort has had some particularly challenging times over the last few years… a lot of changes and interruptions to study.”
She said throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath Deakin staff had put students at the centre of their decision-making processes.
“Everything that we did during that time was thinking about it from the student’s perspective, how we could support them to achieve their aims and goals as we went through,” she said.
“So there’s definitely a great sense of pride across all of our staff in being able to support our students, and now we have these big celebrations back on campus it’s an opportunity for the staff and the whole Deakin community to come together and celebrate that achievement.”
Mechatronics engineering graduate Tahlia McConachy said the dedicated support of Deakin staff had made all the difference through her study experience.
“The staff are definitely very passionate and helpful,” Ms McConachy said.
“We had one lecturer in particular, Dr Andrew Price, who would stay in after hours to get everyone into the labs. He was extremely passionate, it was really important to him that everyone did the best they could.”
