An unceremonious end to your studies
As reported by the UKrant, graduating students in Groningen can look forward to neither flowers nor festivities at the end of their university careers this year. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, no physical graduation ceremonies can take place; meaning that they have to take place online.
It was a crazy sensation for philosophy student Wouter Wiersma (25) when he clicked off from the Google Meets screen after defending his thesis. He had just graduated, but was alone in his room. “I have been studying in Groningen since 2013 and that’s how it ends; I could never have imagined that”, he says.
Graduates this year can have no ceremony with friends, family and other guests in the Academy Building or MartiniPlaza, with most courses postponing their events to September or October due to the corona crisis, or moving them online.
Students can collect their diploma though, a so-called ‘desk bul’. But the Faculty of Arts warns: they have to catch up on everything from the past months, so it may take a while for your diploma to be printed and signed.
