By Orla Hillary, Vice President Health & Education and Science & Technology

I’m excited to announce that following my work with the university this year, Middlesex will be holding its first ever winter graduation ceremonies for students this December!

I first raised the idea of two graduations a year when I was a Student Voice Leader for my course in 2014. Like other nursing students, I was going into my third and final year at Middlesex knowing that while I would finish my studies here in the summer, I wouldn’t actually graduate until the following year.

This is because, until 2017, Middlesex University has only held graduation ceremonies in July, with hundreds of placement and postgraduate students finding themselves in the same situation as I did.

I studied Adult Nursing at Middlesex, and while I love being a nurse – I currently work in an intensive care unit at Whittington Hospital alongside my work as an MDXSU Vice President – as a placement student I often felt under-represented and left out. Having to wait to graduate was just another way I felt like I was having a different, less full university experience in comparison to other students.

Your graduation is the culmination of years of studying and marks the end of an era, so waiting another year to celebrate was a big anti-climax. As well as this, many students are in full-time work by the time July comes around, meaning the need to negotiate time off work, and even flying back into the country if living abroad.

That’s why I’m so delighted to announce that the University have agreed to hold a winter graduation ceremony on Wednesday 13 December 2017 at Central Hall Westminster. It’s a beautiful venue which will be looking especially festive in December, which should make the perfect background to this special occasion.

It's taken a lot of work and discussion with the university to achieve this, and I’m so excited that hundreds of students will now be able to celebrate their graduation much sooner after completing their studies, before entering the world of work and the next stage of their lives and careers.

Final year students who finish their course after the summer ceremonies will receive further information about their winter graduation this autumn. 

If you have any questions about this, or about my other work as your Vice President, please feel free to email me at o.hillary@mdx.ac.uk