Ninth Level Ireland

“Graduands who would have graduated at commencement ceremonies at the start of November have been given an option between being conferred at a virtual ceremony, or deferring their graduation to a future date. Students due to graduate can choose between a virtual ceremony in November, or deferring their ceremony to a live event at some time in the future …” (more)

[Lauren Boland, Trinity News, 28 September]

“University College Dublin (UCD) will hold ‘in-person’ celebration ceremonies for students whose degrees have been conferred virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an announcement by the UCD Students’ Union …” (more)

[Nessa Collins, College Tribune, 14 August]

“A full graduation ceremony is to take place for the University of Limerick Class of 2020 ‘as long as a second wave of Covid-19 does not hit prior to this’, it has been confirmed. UL Student Life has released a statement on its their website to update students on the situation …” (more)

[Martin Mongan, Limerick Leader, 10 August]

“University of Limerick (UL) graduates will have a Covid conferral next month but they’ll have to wait a while longer before they can celebrate their graduation. UL’s autumn conferring ceremonies were due to take place during the week of August 24 to 28 but the ceremonies were cancelled earlier this summer …” (more)

[Nicole Glennon, Limerick Post, 23 July]

“University College Dublin (UCD) will be holding virtual graduation ceremonies this September due to COVID-19 restrictions, according to the UCD Conferring Unit. Jennifer McGowan, Conferring and Awards Assistant at the UCD Conferring Unit, confirmed to a student by email that upcoming graduation ceremonies ‘will be virtual, but we will be letting students know if this changes’ …” (more)

[Nessa Collins, College Tribune, 14 July]

“As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, graduation ceremonies for the class of 2020 have been cancelled or postponed at schools and universities around the world. University College Dublin (UCD) is no exception, with several of the university’s conferring ceremonies already being postponed to a later date …” (more)

[Isobel Dunne, College Tribune, 19 June]

“Over 2,500 people have signed an online petition calling on the University of Limerick to defer the Autumn 2020 graduation ceremonies until a safer date, rather than digitize the event. UL have cancelled the conferring ceremonies due to take place between Monday 24th of August and Friday 28th of August 2020 …” (more)

[Limerick Leader, 18 June]

“The University of Limerick has defended its decision to cancel conferring ceremonies as originally planned for August ‘in light of the public health directives issued by the government’ in relation to Covid-19 …” (more)

[Limerick Leader, 11 June]

“We recently looked at the issue of how universities were going to approach graduation under lockdown. One of the most entertaining approaches included the involvement of robots in place of graduands at a Japanese university …” (more)

[Paul Greatrix, Wonkhe, 18 May]

“Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) will not hold graduation ceremonies on its campus this summer. The university emailed students at the weekend to tell them it will hold ‘virtual’ ceremonies for students due to graduate instead …” (more)

[Robbie Meredith, BBC News, 3 May]

“Some 228 University College Dublin (UCD) medicine students graduated on Friday during a virtual ceremony due to the coronavirus restrictions. In 17 days time many of the new graduates will begin medical internships on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19 in Irish hospitals …” (more)

[Jack Power, Irish Times, 1 May]

“The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan and President Michael D Higgins have sent messages of congratulations to over 130 new doctors who have graduated from the University of Limerick. The final year students at the Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS) are UL’s first ever cohort of students to be conferred remotely in absentia due to the Covid-19 crisis …” (more)

[David Hurley, Limerick Leader, 29 April]

“Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today told Trinity’s graduating medicine students that they’ll play a vital role in battling the coronavirus pandemic, in an online graduation ceremony held so students can join the frontlines in the next month …” (more)

[Donal MacNamee, University Times, 28 April]

“Almost every graduating doctor this year is to be offered an internship in a bid to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has pledged. For the first time, more than 1,000 internships are to be offered to this year’s medical students as they graduate, according to Mr Varadkar …” (more)

[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 17 April]

“The Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar will address 197 medical graduates at University College Cork (UCC) in a special video message tomorrow (Friday, April 17th) as they take part in the University’s first-ever online graduation ceremony. Their graduation has been brought forward to assist the health service during the COVID-19 pandemic …” (more)

[Mary Corcoran, EchoLive, 16 April]

“Some 532 Trinity students have been conferred with their degrees in absentia in a commencement ceremony on Zoom, marking the first time a graduation has been held online. Chancellor Mary McAleese conferred the degrees in the traditional Latin, in a ceremony that will be later uploaded online, according to Provost Patrick Prendergast …” (more)

[Emer Moreau, University Times, 7 April]

“The graduation of 190 medical students from NUIG has been fast-tracked to ensure more doctors are available to work during the Covid-19 pandemic. NUI Galway’s 2020 graduation event, which was held online for the first time, took place on Monday morning through a Facebook live event. The students’ final year exams had previously been brought forward to enable them to enter the healthcare workforce without delay …” (more)

[Sorcha Pollak, Irish Times, 6 April]

“NUI Galway is to hold two virtual conferring ceremonies for more than 300 medical graduates and their families. The university took the decision to bring the final year medical examinations and graduation forward to ensure that the medical graduates would be available to enter the healthcare workforce …” (more)

[Conall Ó Fátharta, Irish Examiner, 3 April]

“Ulster University has decided to postpone summer graduations because of coronavirus with a view to rescheduling ceremonies for later this year. In a letter to students and staff Professor Paul Bartholomew Interim Vice-Chancellor said …” (more)

[Garrett Hargan, Derry Now, 30 March]

“Physical commencement ceremonies – due to take place in April – have been cancelled, Trinity has announced, with graduations set to be live streamed instead and students conferred with their degrees in absentia …” (more)

[Donal MacNamee and Emer Moreau, University Times, 19 March]