Oxford Brookes' graduations - have your say!

Dear students and alumni,

Oxford Brookes University prides itself on offering all its students the chance to celebrate their achievements with family and friends at a graduation ceremony which marks, in a fitting way, an important life event.

Senior staff from across the University meet with the Students’ Union on an on-going basis to review the management and operation of graduations.

A questionnaire was sent out to all students in April about the ceremonies, in part following feedback about the Main Hall at Gipsy Lane (the current graduations venue) and the general appearance of the Gipsy Lane Site while construction of the new library and teaching building continues.

We received some really useful feedback from the 1,372 responses to this questionnaire.

To find out more about the results of this survey please click here

 We worked with the Students’ Union to identify the top issues regarding graduations from April’s survey. Students’ priorities are:

  1. To bring more than two guests to ceremonies and ensure those guests get to sit in the graduation hall. Some students want to bring as many guests as they wish – up to about 10.
  2. A more impressive venue for the graduation ceremony, the reception afterwards and as a backdrop for photographs. Some students proposed small ceremonies held in buildings and at campuses in which they studied.
  3. To have a reception immediately following the ceremony. A few graduates would prefer a ball. However, a number of respondents felt a reception was not important.
  4. That a ceremony should combine ‘pomp and circumstance’ with a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and each graduate should have sufficient time in the spotlight.
  5. That attendance should be free. For some students this meant no charge at all, including free hire of academic dress. Some students support a small charge for a high quality ceremony. In all cases, it was considered important that costs should be kept to a minimum.
  6. For graduation ceremonies to be held as soon after completion of a course as possible.
  7. To have flexibility over which ceremony they attend.
  8. To receive the certificate during the ceremony itself.

Assessing options

After assessing the results of the survey, staff and members of the Students’ Union carried out fact-finding visits to alternative venues around Oxford. 

We now want to share the possible venue options with you and find out what you think.

Your answers will form part of a report sent to Executive Board which is the overall decision-making body of the university. The report will contain a joint recommendation from the academic registrar (the senior member of staff responsible for graduations) and the Students’ Union concerning future arrangements for the ceremonies.

To take the survey, please follow the link: http://svy.mk/ceremonysurvey

To see more images, please visit our Flickr gallery.