Provost Nick Miles gave a speech which welcomed the graduates to the global alumni community of the University of Nottingham, one which underlined the conclusion of an influential period of personal development, to envelop the talents and potentialities of every graduate who took the initiative to embark on this crucial journey.
“The skills and experience you’ve gained here – whether in the classroom or laboratory, with a club or society, through volunteering or social enterprise – these will be of immeasurable value in the years ahead,” he said.
According to the University’s Careers Office, graduates who seek direct employment after graduating often obtain job offers from leading companies such as Alipay and BorgWarner, and students that decide to embark further in higher education go to world top ranking universities, such as Monash University and University College London.
Linjun Xie, a PhD graduate, has already secured a postdoctoral research associate position at Durham University. She won the “Green Talents” award among other young scientists in Germany while conducting her research on Governance and Urban Sustainable Development at UNNC, which was to contribute to the international collaborative project titled “Smart Eco-cities for a Green Economy”.
Her reflection on the research journey made her feel grateful for the broad opportunities of working with leading experts from around the globe. Linjun touched on the openness and inclusiveness of UNNC, as two appreciable qualities the university holds, “which are also the reasons why I would recommend it to many others who would like to pursue an academic career. Here you can get support for studying abroad, conducting fieldworks, and participating in international conferences. Most importantly, you can enjoy the freedom of thoughts and the space to develop your own intellectual curiosity.”
At the ceremony, three graduates were presented with the President’s Award for Outstanding Graduates, a prize established to encourage extracurricular development and passion for pursuing dreams – one which Olamide Balogun, a graduate of MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management was honoured, for his commitment and devotion to his dreams.
Olamide set about on a mission to tackle youth unemployment through socially responsible ecommerce business, which he and his team proposed for the Hult Prize regional summit in Dubai.
When asked about his plans after graduation, Olamide said he is going to turn the proposal he pitched at the Hult Prize into a real world solution – by taking the first step to understand the market. He convincingly acknowledges “there will be a lot of difficulties ahead, but I have been used to setbacks and failures because for every NO I received brought me closer to the YES that I never imagined.”
Professor Dame Jessica Corner (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, UNUK), Dr Paul Greatrix (Registrar, UNUK), and Mrs Margaret Monckton (Chief Financial Officer, UNUK) also witnessed the ceremony.