UL’s class of 2020 will be granted a full graduation ceremony in January 2021, provided that a second wave of Covid-19 doesn’t hit.

Student Life Services at the University of Limerick released a statement confirming the development last week. Student Officers have been liaising with the Higher Authorities within the University since June, after final year students petitioned a virtual defer not digitize campaign, penning 2,400 signatures.

UL’s Academic Planning Group (APG), following lengthy correspondence with UL Student Life and UL Postgraduate Students Union, sought to host socially distanced ceremonies in September, in adherence with public health advice and regulations. The subsequent postponement of Phase 4 and the re-emergence of infection clusters has led to the decision to postpone any physical ceremony until January 2021.

Graduating students who received their final year results on July 6th, 2020, were formally conferred in absentia on Tuesday, August 11th. Hardcopy parchments are expected to be mailed out to graduates before the end of August 2020, subject to public health guidelines. Digital access to parchments will also be available via Digitary within the same time period.

In a formal address from the UL Ceremonies Office to final year students, an email detailed, “We here in the UL Ceremonies Office wanted to reiterate our regret at the deferral of the Autumn Conferring’s, we fully understand your disappointment – it is a feeling right across the campus community.  The graduation ceremonies are a highlight for everyone on campus, especially those of us who work in the UL Ceremonies Office.  The decision to defer the graduation ceremonies was taken by the Academic Planning Group based on the current guidelines by Government and the current ban on large events being held during this COVID 19 Pandemic”.