UNIVERSITY Centre Weston students celebrated their graduation last week.

Three ceremonies took place on Friday September 15, which welcomed over 1,000 guests in-person, as well as thousands more watching remotely via live streams.

Each ceremony started with a procession from the Winter Gardens to St John the Baptist’s Church led by a jazz quartet.

Graduates collected their certificates whilst wearing traditional mortarboards, much to the delight of proud friends and family.

UCW theatre students performed a "captivating musical mashup" of live music, including Roar by Katy Perry and Mountain by Sam Ryder.

After the ceremonies, graduates headed to the Winter Gardens for refreshments and memorable snaps in a quirky photo-booth.

Sadie Skellon, Vice Principal Higher Education, expressed her pride in the class of 2023: “I would like to offer my congratulations to all the people that graduated last Friday.

"Our students have done an incredible job this year, with over 80% of learners achieving a First-class or 2:1 Degree.

“All our students should be incredibly proud of their achievements, they have developed new skills, balanced their studies with a range of personal and work commitments and many have also overcome additional challenges whilst achieving their qualification.

“These qualifications are future-proof, with graduates obtaining key transferable skills, which increases their employability. 

"Our students progress into graduate-level jobs, and we are incredibly proud of this; with learners going on to work for the likes of Disney, Network Rail, the NHS, Wessex Water and the Ministry of Defence.

"UCW is proud to serve as a launchpad for these extraordinary accomplishments.

“UCW is committed to nurturing the potential of students from diverse backgrounds and enabling them to achieve their educational aspirations, offering a range of support services to enable success.

"This year's graduates embody this commitment, showcasing their dedication and hard work in achieving remarkable academic success.”

Mature student and BA (Hons) Counselling graduate, Kimberley Humberstone, who delivered on the Student Vote of Thanks speeches, said: “UCW is a fantastic place to study.

"They have an inclusive ethos, and view us all as individuals with unlimited potential, which ultimately helped us all to succeed.

“I have never felt as supported and as valued as I have while I have been a student at UCW, and I would like to thank those teams and individuals that embody this inclusive ethos and make UCW such a special place to learn.

“This ethos is, I think, one of the best parts of studying at UCW and something which sets it apart from other university environments.

University Centre Weston is also part of the West of England Institute of Technology, and this year’s graduation also saw learners from these programmes graduate. One of those learners, Lewis Westcott, said:  

“The lecturers and the support staff are outstanding, they pour their hearts and souls into our education and give it their all day in, day out – it really is a high level of learning and studying.

"Now that I have my degree, I am going on to work in Defence at Boeing.”

If you would like to watch back any of this year’s Graduation ceremonies, you can do so by clicking here.