TUS student’s disappointment over online graduation

A mature student who returned to education after almost 30 years and completed a Bachelor of Business degree through TUS in Athlone said she was disappointed the achievements of her and her classmates were marked with an online, rather than in-person, graduation ceremony.

The student from the Midlands, who asked not to be named, contacted the Westmeath Independent about the issue last week.

She explained that she commenced her studies in the then-Athlone IT in 2019. Having completed her course online, she had been expecting and looking forward to an in-person graduation ceremony this month.

However, she was contacted by email some weeks ago and told that the Department of Lifelong Learning would be holding its graduation and conferring of awards ceremony for all of its special purpose awards, level 6, and level 7 awards, in an online format.

"This involves the student accessing their graduation online via the internet at a designated time, and it does not require attendance at the university or indeed the rental of a graduation gown," she was told.

It's understood that around 180 students graduating from the Department of Lifelong Learning this month had in-person conferring ceremonies, while a majority, 650, graduated virtually.

The student who contacted us said the use of the online format had come as a great disappointment to her and made it feel as though her accomplishment in going back to education and securing a degree had not been properly valued.

"A lot of people were annoyed about it. For anyone to go back (to education) it takes a lot of courage, and it's important to be recognised at the end of your achievement.

"Yes, you can do the online ceremony, and in (TUS's) eyes they are recognising us and congratulating us, but it's not the same thing.

“People were looking forward to having their day and wearing their gown - it's a big push to get through it to the end," she said.

When contacted about this, a TUS spokesperson said: "A virtual graduation was arranged to acknowledge the achievements of part-time lifelong learning students who studied 100% online and was intended to be more inclusive, allowing greater access for our adult learners, many of whom come from further afield, work full-time and have other life commitments.

"The virtual graduation ceremony follows the exact format as an in-person graduation, including a formal address by the president and registrar, the main difference being that every student's name is called out online, whereas only those present at the in-person are called.

"With part-time programmes within the Faculty of Continuing, Professional, Online & Distance Learning going to 100% online delivery and cohorts of adult learners from across the country studying online, this was felt to be the most inclusive approach and appropriate for the award levels that it applied to," the TUS spokesperson added this week.

The TUS students' union in Athlone, confirmed that it's organising an in-person celebration later this month for the students who had graduated virtually.

The president of TUS students' union in Athlone, Niall Naughton, said this event would be held on-campus on Saturday, November 26 from noon to 2pm.