Graduation 2007
The sun shone on over 300 of Croydon Higher Education College’s (forms part of Croydon College) students as they graduated in front of approximately 1,000 guests at the Fairfield Halls last Friday. They graduated from over 40 Higher Education (HE) qualifications in the presence of the Guest of Honour, Dr Robert Aylett (Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at London Metropolitan University) and the Mayor of Croydon, Councillor Derek Millard.
The event was opened by the Principal and Chief Executive of Croydon College, Mariane Cavalli who welcomed the audience to this prestigious event: ‘This ceremony is one of the key highlights of the College year, providing as it does an opportunity to recognise our students' success and the part played in it by our talented and committed teaching and business support staff. This day provides everyone who is associated with the achievements of our learners a chance to reflect on what we do, and serves to remind us of why we do it… Your new skills and qualifications add to the talent pool available in the Borough and I’m pleased that many of our key partners have taken time to join us today and celebrate your successes.’
The Dean of the Higher Education College, Jason Pemberton-Billing, provided the audience with a review of the year in which he spoke about the introduction of the three constituent colleges – Sixth Form, Skills and Enterprise and Higher Education – to enable Croydon College to give greater flexibility in meeting the needs of students and other stakeholders.
The presentation of awards to the graduates was interspersed with performances by current Croydon Sixth Form College (forms part of Croydon College) Performing Arts student, Amarra Smith, who sang ‘Can’t Help Loving That Man’ – a hit made famous by Billie Holliday – and Cellar Door featuring former Music Technology student Aimee Grinter who was accompanied by Mike Brown, who performed their own song, ‘Comet.’
In his speech, the Guest of Honour Dr Robert Aylett spoke about HE in Croydon: ‘Croydon already has one the largest colleges in London with significant numbers of young people between the ages of 18 and 30 on a range of vocationally relevant courses. About 1200 students study HE at Croydon.’ He also outlined new developments: ‘…the College and London Metropolitan have much in common. As partners we have worked together over the past four years, in which the University has acted as the validating body for the HE qualifications awarded at the College. Now, we have more ambitious plans for HE in Croydon: in order to capitalise on the sort of educational, social and economic opportunities represented by those very large numbers I cited up front: by encouraging more economic activity, developing and supporting more specialised industry and above all giving more local educational choice and opportunity.’
The Chair of Governors, Kevin Henry, made the final speech of the day and closed the event by inviting graduands to: ‘…please stand and place your mortarboards on your heads. Congratulations you are all now graduates from the Croydon Higher Education College class of 2007.’
Following the event, graduates began celebrating in the bars at the Fairfield Halls with family and friends.
Graduation Co-ordinator, Christina Tatnell, said after the event: ‘It has been celebration of student achievement. I hope that in years to come the graduates will look back on today with fond memories.'
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