Maynooth University conferred 2,575 graduates with a range of degrees and diplomas at undergraduate and postgraduate level in virtual ceremonies over three days.
The events marked the first conferring for several new programmes including a Higher Diploma in Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience as well as a Bachelor of Business Studies International Business (International).
In total, just over 2,000 degrees and 150 diplomas were conferred. Additionally, 202 Masters degrees and 21 Doctorates were conferred across 11 virtual ceremonies.
On what will be his last conferring ceremony, President of Maynooth University, Professor Philip Nolan, congratulated graduates as they embark on their life journey: “This has been a most unusual and difficult time. In your penultimate year of study, we were struck by this pandemic, the likes we have not seen for a century. You’ve all been affected by this. Your lives and your studies have been severely disrupted and some of you, sadly, had the additional strain and grief of seeing your loved ones severely ill or losing loved ones to COVID-19, and they are very much in our thoughts.”
“And yet through all of this, through all of this difficulty, you found the resources and the resilience to complete your learning, to complete your studies.”
“These are the final graduation ceremonies for me at Maynooth University, as after 10 years, my term of office ends on the 30th of September. I have, over that time, had the privilege of conferring degrees on over 45,000 graduates. Each one of you now making a way anew in the world, empowered by your education. And it’s one of the great pleasures of my life to meet our graduates. I meet you all the time, in many walks of life and I am so impressed, so uplifted, by your ability, your ambition, your optimism, your concern, to use your education, collectively, to make the world a better place.”
In view of the public health situation, the Class of 2021 were conferred in virtual ceremonies hosted by the University in the Aula Maxima on campus. When the public health situation allows, graduates will be invited back to the campus for an in-person ceremony with family and friends at a later date.