UOWD to hold two graduation ceremonies this year due to record number of graduates

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Over 1,200 undergraduate and postgraduate students will be conferred degrees at the two ceremonies.

The first batch of 535 students will received their degrees on July 12 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, while a second batch of nearly 700 students will get their degrees at another ceremony at the same venue in November.

In the first ceremony, 80 undergraduate students completing their programs in B.Com, Business Administration, Computer Science and Internet Science & Technology will be conferred degrees; while 420 postgraduate students who have completed Masters in Business Administration, International Business, Quality Management, Strategic HR Management and Strategic Marketing, will be conferred degrees.

Mr. Abdul Majid Al Khaja, himself an alumnus of UOWD and presently CEO of Rail Agency, RTA, will be the guest speaker on the occasion.

'Each passing year has added new challenges to the task of managing the rising number of graduating students. Last year, we split the graduation into two parts on the same day. However, the sheer logistics of putting together what is truly the most important event in a university student's life has prompted us to hold two separate ceremonies,'

said Raymi van der Spek, Vice President (Admin) of UOWD. 'We believe the growth in numbers is related to the high quality Australian education we provide.'

The number of graduating students has been rising dramatically over the years at UOWD.

Last year (2007), a record number of 736 students received their degrees from H.E. Dr. Hanif Hassan, UAE Minister for Education, in the presence of Mr. Michael Codd A.C., Chancellor of the University of Wollongong, Australia.

In 2006, HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the then Chairman of the Executive Council, conferred degrees on 610 graduates.

The first graduation ceremony of UOWD held in 1997 honoured a modest number of just 22 students.

The following year, the number rose to 47.

By 2001, the number of graduates receiving their degrees had swelled to 108 and reached 279 in 2004.

A total of 444 graduates were conferred degrees in 2005.