Thousands of students set to graduate from University of Derby

More than 3,000 students are set to graduate from the University of Derby next week.

The graduation ceremonies for the class of 2015 will take place between Wednesday, January 13 and Friday, January 15, 2016.

Thousands of students, guests and VIPs are expected to attend the three day celebrations at the world-class Derby Arena. There will be two ceremonies hosted each day.

As well as students celebrating their successes, each year notable people, with a strong connection to the University or to the city, are chosen to receive an Honorary Degree at the annual Awards Ceremonies.

The recipients this year are:

• Rt Hon Sir John Mummery, a former Lord Justice of Appeal (Honorary Doctor of the University)
• The Hon Sir Stephen Mitchell, former QC and Derby porcelain researcher (Honorary Doctor of the University)
• Eileen Fry, former researcher and Director of the Multi-Faith Centre at the University of Derby (Honorary Doctor of the University)
• Donna Kellogg MBE, former Olympian and badminton coach (Honorary Master of the Arts)
• Richard Gerver, former ‘superhead’ and speaker (Honorary Doctor of Education)
• Professor Ashwani Gupta, University of Maryland (Honorary Doctor of the University)

Professor Kath Mitchell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Derby, said: “I am very much looking forward to welcoming all of our students and honorands to our forthcoming graduation ceremonies. This will be my first time officiating at the awards at Derby Arena and I am excited to build upon what was an extremely successful event last year.

“Graduation is a time to celebrate the hard work, commitment and successes of our students and I wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.”

To mark the beginning of the Award Ceremonies, a special service of Evensong will take place at Derby Cathedral on Sunday, January 10 at 6pm.