Tuesday 29th July 2014 - Student fashions for graduation ceremonies

Last year, on 18th July 2013, I made some observations about the students who had come across the graduation platform that week.  It was a blog that attracted some interest and amusement.  This week's graduation week finished last Friday and I have since been reflecting on what I saw during those 5 days.

This year I attended 11 ceremonies, of which I was the presiding officer at 3.  Those 11 ceremonies covered all faculties.  Last year I made certain points as hypotheses, but in some cases I would make the same observations in 2014 as in 2013: I know that two observations don't make a data set, but hey ... two data points are twice as many as one.  On the other hand, some observations I made last year have been overturned this year.  I, of course, acknowledge that there is not a robust statistical basis for what follows.

So what has been different this year?

• The Faculty in which the greatest proportion of males have worn 'affiliation' ties (relating to the University, Faculty or a sports club) this year was Medicine, Dentistry and Health: last year it was Engineering.  The MBChB ceremony (for graduates in Medicine itself) was particularly notable, with (I estimate) the majority of males so attired.
• The dominant colour for dresses has changed - this year cream has been dominant (with one number crossing the stage at least 21 times by my count).  My PA also tells me (she was marshalling) that another common colour was 'nude': I would have called it 'beige'. 'Nude' actually sounds rather racist to me since it refers to Caucasian skin colour rather than to other ethnic groups.  I was impressed by the medical women, many of whom seemed to have chosen a red dress that matched the colour of their hoods.  Green and yellow were rare colours.
• I hadn't realised that the V-neck pullover had come back into fashion.  Nor had I realised that it was possible to buy three-piece suits (in other words with a waistcoat) any more.  Yet both these fashions appeared on stage.
• Last year I commented that the curtsey was perhaps going out.  But this year I detected more of them - albeit quite discreet, as if the woman performing it wanted it to be kept a secret - but definitely there.  And this happened in all faculties.

What about things that were the same?

• Last year I put forward a hypothesis that the taller the woman the more likely she was to wear high heels.  This is where I now have a second confirmatory data point.  The same observation would be true this year.  But there was one difference this year.  In 2013 I noted that women in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health perhaps realised the risk in tottering across the stage and their average heel height was lower than in other faculties.  But perhaps the MDH women had read last year's blog and decided to prove me wrong.  This year they were up there with the others.  I commented on this to a head of department in Medicine. His response? "When it comes to graduation, fashion wins over common sense."
• As last year, Chinese males displayed a bi-modal fashion pattern - either wearing smart new shiny suits, or crossing the stage in battered jeans and old trainers.  Chinese women seemed more interested in looking smart.
• Many many more women than men appeared in 'national dress'.  I saw one kilt and one male in Malaysian costume, but otherwise the men wore fashion that could pass anywhere:  many African and Asian women wore clothing relating to their countries of origin.

Finally, another couple of observations from this year:

1. Those crossing the platform generally can't help smiling - either as soon as their name is read out, or by the time they reach the Presiding Officer.  I could look at the ceremonies again on dvd if I had the time (which I don't) but I simply put it as a hypothesis that the least likely to smile were males in the departments of Computer Science and Mathematics.
2. The weather this year was uniformly sunny and hot.  So why is there such an incredible variation in the temperature of students' hands when one shakes them?  Someone had a go at explaining that to me last year, but I've forgotten the reasons - but the variation was even more marked this year.

   

Monday 21st July 2014 - Graduates as useful citizens

I have been working on graduation speeches in the last couple of days.  I try to vary them year by year, and also for each ceremony, although some elements that seem to work stay the same.

At a recent meeting in London I heard mention of work done by Birkbeck College and the Institute of Education in London detailing some of the ways in which graduates have different futures from non-graduates.  Some things are obvious, relating to employment prospects and other economic indices.  But other elements make very interesting reading.  The report provides evidence on the balance of benefit from graduation.  By that I mean the balance between private benefit (accruing only to the graduate) and public benefit (accruing to society more widely).  The funding of university education in the UK has shifted almost entirely to the student / graduate, and thus to a view that the only benefits of university study are for the graduate.  Were the public benefits to be quantified and highlighted then the argument would follow that the public purse should bear a significant proportion of the cost.

So what does the research show?

• Graduates are more tolerant of diversity, particularly ethnic diversity.
• Graduates are less likely to take up authoritarian views
• Graduates are more interested in politics and more likely to vote.
• Graduates are more likely to engage with civic life, for example through volunteering and charitable activities, or through joining clubs and societies 
• Graduates are less likely to be involved in crime
• Graduates are less likely to smoke, more likely to eat healthily and less likely to become obese
• As a result, graduates are likely to experience better health and to live longer
• They are more likely to take regular exercise
• They are also less likely to suffer depression

It's a pretty impressive list.  And if it were to be translated into a cost-benefit analysis it would show that - in health terms alone - graduates make less call on publicly-funded health services.  Less crime, and more civic and volunteering activities are also strong benefits to society as a whole.

So I've found a theme that I can make use of in at least one of this week's speeches.  Graduation is not just a good thing for the graduates: it's good for everyone.