The British College Live Graduation Ceremony, 2021 

On 22nd November, The British College held the Graduation Ceremony 2021 at The Hyatt Regency Hotel, to celebrate the conferment of awards for Leeds Beckett University (LBU) and The University of the West of England (UWE). 

The event was a great success, with 419 undergraduate and postgraduate students in attendance - and was especially exciting as the pandemic forced the College to host the last graduation ceremony of 2020, virtually. Whilst the staff still succeeded in making it a great event, the faculty and students were delighted to be able to celebrate together once again in person. 

However, adjustments were made to ensure that the event followed government guidelines, and the students and their families could enjoy the day safely. The most important change this year was that for the first time the ceremony was divided into two shifts - with Business students graduating in the morning and IT students graduating in the afternoon. 

This precaution was taken in order to limit the number of people gathering at once and to make it possible for all attendees to socially distance themselves. Both ceremonies were followed by refreshments, photos, and festivities - and were made available via a live link for any family watching at home.

Restrictions also meant that overseas guests, including a number of advisors to the College, such as the Honorable John Edward Hollister Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich; Mr Michael Rutland, OBE; and Professor Fergus Lyon - were not able to attend in person, but did however deliver speeches via video link. 

This is also true of Professor Jeanne Keay, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Beckett University and Professor Steve West, CBE, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West of England. Dr Mary Bishop, Executive Principal of The British College who also delivered her welcome address virtually. However, there were still lots of special guests who did attend in person, including the Advisor of The British College, Dr Arjun Karki.

Mr Rajen Kandel, CEO and Founder of the College, flew over from the UK especially to open the event and said of the occasion, “Despite the obstacles that covid has posed, our students have managed to achieve the best results yet, with the highest number of distinctions the College has ever seen. This year, our graduating students also had the additional honour of receiving a degree from a British Accreditation Council approved College - which will greatly improve their chances of success moving forward. We are very proud of them all and wish them the very best for their future”.