Oct 4 2012 3:00PM
A record number of students will don caps and gowns for this year’s UCS Lowestoft| graduation ceremony.
Just over 100 students will be celebrating at the ceremony which takes place on Friday 5 October in St Margaret’s Church.
All have studied at UCS Lowestoft, which is located at the site of Lowestoft College, and have successfully completed Higher Education qualifications in Art, Business Studies, Leadership and Management, Children’s Care, Learning and Development, Inclusive Learning and Practice and Integrated Working, Football Development and Coaching, Social Pedagogy, Teacher Training and Operations Engineering.
The ceremony will be opened by Professor Mike Saks, Provost and Chief Executive Officer of UCS and Professor Edward Acton, Vice Chancellor of the University of East Anglia will present the awards.
An Honoree Fellowship Award will be presented to Lowestoft College’s former Principal Gwen Parsons who played a key role in education in the county for a number of years. During her eight years as Principal, Mrs Parsons was instrumental in helping to establish UCS and also played a key role in the development of Lowestoft’s Sixth Form College.
She established the Waveney Learning Community, working with the voluntary sector to develop routes in to Education. In 2010 she retired as principal from Lowestoft College but has continued to play an active role in the local community; She is a governor of Pakefield High School, a trustee of DIAL Lowestoft and Waveney and The Community Forum in Waveney.
Jan Sutton, Head of Higher Education at UCS Lowestoft, said: “It really is great that so many students have chosen to formally celebrate their achievements by coming to the graduation ceremony. Many of our graduands have studied part-time and have successfully managed to combine the demands of the course with work and family commitments.”
Hundreds of friends and family members will join the celebrations, together with staff and local dignitaries including Waveney MP Peter Aldous, Waveney District Council Leader Councillor Colin Law and Mayor of Lowestoft Councillor Nick Webb and Mayor of Bungay Councillor Terry Reeve.
The celebrations will continue at UCS Lowestoft following the ceremony.
Graduation Ceremonies will also be taking place at UCS Great Yarmouth| on 13 October and at UCS Ipswich| between 23 and 25 October.