Celebrations all round as UCEM holds its second graduation
Posted on: 5 July, 2017
On 24 June, we celebrated the graduation of 79 UCEM students who attended from 16 countries across the globe – from as far afield as Barbados and Hong Kong. Friends, family, tutors and UCEM staff were also at the event, held at Reading Town Hall, to celebrate with the graduands. This was a proud moment for all of us at UCEM, as it marked our second graduation since we received Taught Degree Awarding Powers in 2013.
The ceremony began with speeches from UCEM Chairman, John Gellatly FRICS, and Ashley Wheaton, UCEM Principal and CEO Ashley spoke about the importance of education in the Built Environment, stating, “I cannot overemphasise the importance of each of your roles in the future. The emerging and serious challenges in the Built Environment, both now and in the future, will require talented, dedicated and above all, exceptional people to provide the right, creative, fit-for-purpose, and well thought through solutions.”
He continued, “I have every confidence that you will all be remarkable in your future careers, and will be our future leaders. May I take this opportunity to wish you all every possible success. I have no doubt that you will all have an important part to play in helping to make a better Built Environment in the years ahead.”
Our guest speaker was Ros Kerslake OBE, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund, who congratulated the soon-to-be graduates and gave an encouraging talk on the industry, and the need for skilled talent.
Awards and certificates were then presented for achievements across a range of programmes, at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Along with these, two graduands – Willie Aherne and Darren Bennett – received the Chapman Adkin Award. This special prize recognises the performance of those who have shown special enterprise in completing one of our programmes.
The ceremony concluded with a drinks reception for graduates and their guests, giving all those who attended a chance to network and celebrate with peers.
For our recent graduates, it’s goodbye but not farewell. Our global alumni community has over 150,000 members and we’re pleased to welcome more into the fold. If you’ve recently graduated, please fill in your details here to join the network. You can keep in touch on social media by following @UCEMAlumni on Twitter, joining our LinkedIn group and liking our dedicated Facebook page.
We’ve shared some pictures from our graduation ceremony below, and you can visit our Facebook page to view our complete album of photos from the day.
