Strathclyde Business School: 2021, November 24th, 1pm
on behalf of the university strathclyde i welcome you all here to the barney hall on this congregation for the conferment of degrees it's a very special day it's special for our graduates who have spent the last period which must have seemed an internal period studying through your courses it's important for your family and friends who are here who definitely will have supported you during the the pandemic restrictions and it's also important for our staff who have turned out today who what have been working under incredibly difficult and challenging conditions to give you the very best education you can possibly have graduation ceremonies like this are also known as commencement ceremonies they represent a beginning rather than an end and it's in this spirit strathclyde that we have our graduation ceremonies in a few moments each of you will will come up onto the stage and you will walk along and then you'll be capped by me and then you'll go off and you'll walk along and you'll leave the stage and and in a sense that symbolizes the transition from being a student and a graduate to having the capping which is a mark of achievement to becoming an alumnus or an alumna becoming part of a broader community of over 175 000 people around the world who have graduated from the university of strathclyde that move from graduate to graduate it's actually quite a profound thing and when you're coming up onto the stage i really hope that you you think about that that it's not the end it's now the beginning of the next phase of your life after the ceremony we will have an academic procession we will move from the barney hall and we'll walk along the campus to our newest building our learning and teaching building and it'll be there that we can have some refreshments and have some opportunity for informal discussions and again that has been that type of walk after the graduation has been done for the last few hundred years and even beyond that in other universities and you follow in the footsteps of every single graduate at strathclyde all the way back to 1796 when this institution began it's an incredibly special day as i said and and i think for the the family and friends who are here uh and having you know supported the the graduates to get to this point it's it's we say that you know you don't really value something until you've lost it and we haven't had graduations for two years the last last set of graduations was in november 2019 so when your loved one comes up and to be capped you know just engage with every single minute with it and and if you want to celebrate in your own way then please do if you want to cheer or or clap louder then please do because it is a special moment so without further ado i now declare this congregation open and i invite professor ian wooten vice dean of strathclyde business school to present each of our graduates executive dean in the name of the university and by the authority of senate i present to you these students for the degree of doctor of philosophy for research in the department of economics timmy tope abraham ajayi [Applause] for the degree of master of science in applied economics ian thomas baird david bender lewis bennett adam collum curry john andrew dougherty christian james gibson matilda julia gracik rebecca gray sophie flora harding ellie anna hodge apira hussein laura hutton eva curalite thomas james light buddy [Applause] adicha maya dylan mcdermott fraser milligan [Applause] foreign rhiannon louise sims kieran wilson in economics and finance iman busine sria mishra in global energy management toby anthony norms anuja nagai tom fraser speedy in entrepreneurial management and leadership lauren jesper bielen jonathan lawrence brady amitabha [Applause] nikolai koplowski raphael antonio jacquinto reyes in entrepreneurship innovation and technology gadir fake darwin marie adelaide coupon eleonora della [Applause] sumanth ready the owner catherine boyd mcecron zeon paul [Applause] for the degree of bachelor of arts in accounting and finance elizabeth anastasia goodwin ross hutchinson grant mcgill [Applause] callum wright in finance you and andrew malcolm dylan young in finance and economics reese jenkins in economics and finance aaron gray ross john mclean [Applause] for the degree of master of arts i'm sorry master of science in applied economics mobine hussain for the degree of master of science in economics and finance alexandria vanessa miguel diaz ladies and gentlemen colleagues but most of all are graduates i warmly welcome you once again to this special ceremony and memorable day a day that marks the culmination of a sustained period of demanding work and dedication for our new graduates you've graduated in front of your family your friends your peers and so i begin my address to congratulate you our class of 2021 on your achievements during what's probably the most challenging of times that any graduate has experienced in recent years well done in a short while you'll be invited to join the academic procession when we'll leave the barney hall this is a symbol that you're no longer students but you're full members of the academic community at the university of strathclyde and one that i said earlier numbers over 175 000 people across the globe and there's about forty thousand alumni who are business school graduates this november we are celebrating our first in-person graduation ceremonies since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic the pandemic has challenged our health systems impacted their economies and changed the way we work but it is also demonstrated that society can achieve many things when we work together and has placed science business and all the disciplines in business at the forefront of the solutions to the challenges that we face but it was science business and universities that delivered vaccines for the covered 19 virus in record time and it science business and education that will help us address the most pressing issue of the day climate change earlier this month glasgow hosted cop 26 the summit of world leaders and nations which came together to agree measures to prevent catastrophic warming of our planets but we must also recognize that the challenges of coronavirus and climate change have exposed division in our societies weaknesses in our systems and even seen the denial of science and expert knowledge strathclyde is and always has been an institution where freedom of thought is encouraged and valued an institution exemplified by tolerance and inclusivity one which seeks to play a significant role in shaping the world in which we live through our teaching research and through you our graduates now as graduates of strathclyde you too must play your part in drawing upon the knowledge you have gained here and the learning that is still to come to build a brighter future using the business and economic principles the finance skills that you've learned well here to solve the pressing challenges that the world faces cop 26 saw former president barack obama come to strathclyde to speak with students about the important role of the youth and young people in tackling climate change and mr obama had a simple but very powerful message get active this is an appeal that i ask your graduates to act upon and in getting active i hope you will demonstrate strathclyde's socially progressive values and ethos of tolerance pluralism and a desire to make a positive difference in reaching this moment you will all have had the support and encouragement of your supporters families friends teachers and mentors some of them will be here today in person or they'll be thinking of you on this special occasion and i'm sure you're extremely grateful for their support as i said earlier this has probably been the toughest time to be a student i ask you now to take this opportunity to show your appreciation and gratitude with a sincerely failed round of applause for those with you in the hall today but also for those who can't be with you similarly all of our graduates have been helped by our incredible staff who have worked so hard under very trying circumstances to provide you with a class education and outstanding student experience and for whom your success is their reward so graduates please join me in showing your appreciation to our fantastic staff here today and those who can't be here your success and their success as a university is in no small part due to the efforts of our staff who deliver our vision of strathclyde as a socially progressive leading international technological university of all the key figures in our history professor john anderson was the one who made it possible back in 1796 when strathclyde was founded towards the end of the scottish enlightenment for the benefit of all mankind and as a place of useful learning anderson believed in knowledge for the greater good in education for all what we call widening participation today strathclyde is at the forefront of widening access to higher education welcoming those with the ability and desire to learn regardless of their personal circumstances we're a research intensive university whose vision is to make a positive difference to the lives of our students society and the world through a groundbreaking research we are helping to change the world for the better our researchers are leading the development of innovative technologies that will facilitate the transition from fossil fuels to clean sustainable energy sources such as wind solar and hydrogen and those will fall power our future world and tackle climate change in our business school and a number of you have gone through a number of programs which tied directly to this our business school and our academics are at the very heart of these endeavors we pride ourselves on having a business school that just doesn't stand in a silo we work with all parts of the university in all parts of society and we're an impactful business school and we hope that you carry that with you in your future career beyond today's graduation we're developing new drugs using new digital manufacturing processes that will provide cheaper more effective treatments in the fight against cancer liver kidney diseases and inflammatory diseases while also helping our health services evolve to face the challenges of health and social care in the changing demographics of the 21st century especially in a world in which we are now facing through our focus in entrepreneurial education we're helping students and staff to create new businesses with sustainability in mind which in turn are creating jobs and supporting economic growth we're leading the revitalization of this part of the city through the glasgow city innovation district which is attracting companies both large and small to work with the university in the business school to create new ideas technologies and solutions to a range of problems in health tech fintech 5g industrial informatics space and quantum much of which is based within our own technology and innovation centre as a university we continually work to enhance our students experience investing in our campus as evidenced by our new strathclyde sport building and the learning and teaching building which opened just a few months ago we're investing in health and wellbeing services and we're putting our students at the heart of everything we do our progress and efforts in all of these areas have been recognized in recent years in a host of awards we became the only university to win the times higher education uk university of the year twice having won the accolade again in 2019 we've also been named business school of the year workplace of the year and research project of the year in recent recent times and despite the many challenges that we've all faced strathclyde business school has had reason to celebrate this year we were incredibly proud and honored when strathclyde received a 50 million pounds donation from a business school alumnus dr charles huang through his phil philanthropic foundation that's the largest gift any scottish university has ever received and the donation was broken into two parts 20 million pounds will enable the creation of an institute for international business a global leaders scholarship program and entrepreneurship awards all of these are going to be named after charles's supervisor professor stephen young who sadly passed away just before we received the gift and when i spoke to to charles about you know tell me a bit about your background charles said well okay when i was here i stayed in a place called the red roads flats some of you if you come from glasgow know about these this was where people from less privileged backgrounds would normally come from and those flats have now been knocked down and he came here from china because he wanted to be part of strathclyde and he wanted to be part of the education that we provide and on the basis of that education he has gone on and he's now a billionaire and when i asked him why did you want to donate money to strathclyde and he said the reason is because the one good thing about this university is that even though i had left and had graduated the staff were always there to help me during all the difficulties that i faced and all of you will face difficulties in your career but he felt comfortable about coming back speaking to supervisors past lecturers and even although you might be graduating from business or economics or finance or entrepreneurship but we are able to connect you to other experts in the university and also as part of a wider network and ask all of you as graduates following charles's footsteps don't be scared to come back and contact us you're part of the strathclyde family and we want you to be as successful as possible and we want you to be our ambassadors when you are working in leadership in organizations throughout the world the other 30 million pounds is going to be used to build a new sustainable building a key part of the university's technology and innovation zone other news is that our department of marketing celebrates its 50th year uh this year the department of marketing is one of the oldest and most well-established departments in the whole of europe and we're delighted that we're having that celebration today and finally the business school had all possible subject areas ranked in the top 10 of the complete university guide 2022. accounting and finance was ranked number one in the whole of the uk it's an incredible achievement uh we our marketing was ranked third and in economics business and management studies all in the top ten and when you look at economics departments across the uk to be in that space is an incredible achievement and you are graduates from this business school from these departments and be very proud of that so as with immense pride we see you graduate today and though you may believe in us you remain important members of our strathclyde family we hope you will continue to stay in touch to let us know how you get on and continue to contribute to strathclyde's activities and success so today's your day and a time has come for you to celebrate with your loved ones so on behalf of the university of strathclyde congratulations again to each and every one of you and i wish you every success for the future thank you i now declare this congregation closed and invite our graduates to join the academics in our academic procession to the learning and teaching building can i ask family and friends to remain in place until all the graduates have left and then you can follow us on the way to the building and there you'll be able to get some refreshments and a good chance to chat to our staff who will also be there please be upstanding [Music] you
2021-12-01 09:58
