Over 180 Exeter College university level students donned their caps and gowns on Friday 6th November and took to the streets to process through the city for their Graduation Ceremony, held at Exeter Cathedral.

With the Cathedral providing the stunning backdrop to the formal ceremony, the college’s largest cohort of graduates to date was joined by over 600 guests to celebrate their achievements at this spectacular event, including the Lord Mayor, the graduates’ families and friends, representatives of Exeter College and its Board of Governors and VIPs from Devon’s schools, colleges, business and community partners.

The guest speaker this year was Karime Hassan, Exeter City Council’s Chief Executive and Growth Director who spoke about the importance of recognising the high level skills that are essential to maintaining the city of Exeter’s success in the local, regional and national economy. His inspirational speech also talked about his own university and career path and the importance in ambition. Also attending the ceremony was senior representatives from the College’s partner Universities of Exeter, Plymouth, Kingston and St Mark and St John as well as the City and Guilds and Pearson awarding bodies who, along with the Principal, Richard Atkins, officially acknowledged the graduates of 2015. The college is also celebrating the year in which it gained the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education’s accolade following its review of the college’s university level provision in April. The team of reviewers judged its academic standards, quality, enhancement of and information about its learning opportunities as meeting its exacting UK expectations.

The students, of all ages and from all over Devon and the South West, were awarded qualifications ranging from BA to Foundation Degrees, HNCs and HNDs in a range of subjects offered at the College. Exeter College’s university level provision also includes Aircraft Engineering, Computing, Coaching and Fitness, Health and Social Care and Construction as well as university level qualifications for Education and Leadership amongst others.

Speaking after the ceremony, Exeter College Principal, Richard Atkins, praised the graduating students saying “I am delighted that for the third consecutive year we have seen an increase in our graduating university level students and that so many are turning out for this celebratory event at the Cathedral. We have been offering university level programmes for many years, including professional qualifications and degree programmes, in partnership with our Universities and awarding bodies and we are very pleased to have our own dedicated graduation ceremony. Many of our students are juggling work and home commitments with their academic studies and this prestigious occasion, our eighth Ceremony at the Cathedral, truly reflects their achievements. The college is particularly pleased that the number of our part time university level students has increased since nationally this number has fallen dramatically in the last few years. We hope that the day gives a real sense of how proud the College is of our students’ success and we are delighted to have the opportunity to share this with their families and friends.“