6 July: The 2019 summer graduation ceremony is held in the D. H. Lawrence Auditorium during the weekend 6-7 July, with over 1,500 graduates and their families attending to celebrate this lifetime milestone.

Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Shearer West, Vice Chancellor of the University of Nottingham urged the departing students to carry the Nottingham Spirit with them.

“The Nottingham Spirit is about making contribution, is approaching the world with a smile, a sense of hope and possibility,” she said. “They will make you so attractive to the world’s best graduate schools and top employers.”

According to the University’s Careers Office, among this year’s cohort of graduates heading directly to employment, over 65% will work in Fortune 500 or other leading companies.

Friends Marvin Zeng and Like Chen are graduating in BSc Computer Science. They have both secured job offers from national game development giants, Tencent and Tap4fun respectively. Reflecting on his four years at UNNC, Like Chen said he appreciated the opportunity to study abroad as an exchange student.

“The exchange term gave me a lot of inspiration for game development and really broadened my horizons,” said Like Chen. “I had the chance to learn cutting edge technologies.”

PhD graduate in Applied Linguistics Dr. Justin Berg has been appointed as Director of Language Studies at Tianjin Julliard School. He is also an awardee of the Vice Chancellor’s Medal, which honours exceptional achievements in academic or extracurricular activities. During his research at UNNC, Justin saved a 110 year old pipe organ from demolition and brought it from the United States to Ningbo.

Over 83% of 2019 graduates will pursue further studies abroad, of which over a quarter have been admitted to world top 10 universities.

For BSc International Economics and Trade graduates, the number is particularly high. 90 students will progress onto the next level of study, all of which having reportedly been offered places at world top 50 universities for their chosen subjects.

Professor Simon Appleton, Head of School of Economics felt unsurprised by the result: “The quality of our student intake is so strong, and that is combined with a rigorous, technical training with a British style of higher education at UNNC.”

Professor Simon Appleton is also awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Medal.

This year, three staff members are awarded Li Dak Sum Chair Professorships in recognition of their significant contributions to their respective academic disciplines. These include Professor James Greer (Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices), Professor Lina Song (Development Economics), and Professor Patrick Y.K. Chau (Information System and Operations Management).

To honour the outstanding achievements made by students and staff, the graduation will also confer other special prizes including Lord Dearing Award, President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate, Nottingham Advantage Award and Alumni Laureate Awards.

At the Sunday ceremony, an Honorary Associate Professorship will be presented to Dr. Zhan Ming, Deputy Director of the International Medical Department at Ningbo First Hospital, to acknowledge his contribution to local healthcare development.