Cardiff and Vale College has held the first special Graduation Ceremony for its growing number of Higher Education students.
More than 100 HE graduates, friends and family came to the ceremony at the College’s City Centre Campus to see the graduates don their gowns and mortarboards for the ceremony. They received their certificates from CAVC Deputy Principal Kay Martin and Vice Principal Sharon James.
Cardiff and Vale College’s university level HE provision continues to grow. Over the last year the College has doubled the number of Higher Education courses it offers and applications increased by 117% with enrolments going up by 30% – many of those being new students.
The College works in partnership with a number of universities in Wales and England to deliver HE qualifications including Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of South Wales, University of West London, University College Birmingham and Kingston University London giving people the opportunity to gain university-level qualifications while staying close to home. Last year, 96% of the College’s HE students successfully achieved their qualification.
Two such successful graduates were husband and wife Abdou Elilah Hassan and Amira Assami, who both graduated with a Foundation Degree in Business Studies which they studied for together.
“I enrolled first because you could study the course part-time at City Centre Campus and that was convenient – it meant I could work at the same time as doing a university course. Then my husband applied without telling me!” Amira laughed. “When he told me I spoke to my tutor Judith and said ‘Don’t take that man!’”
“I wanted to get a recognised qualification so I spoke to the tutor,” Abdou explained. “Then I found out it was the same course that my wife was on.”
The married couple have graduated with Merits and are now going to the College’s partner the University of South Wales top up to a full degree.
“Coming to Cardiff and Vale College was great – it was hard work but we really enjoyed it,” Amira said.
“We had our little ups and downs but it really was great,” Abdou added. “We want better qualifications so we can get better jobs with better salaries, or open our own business and this will really help us.”
CAVC Deputy Principal Kay Martin said: “Seeing our students graduate with Higher Education qualifications they wanted to achieve together with the skills they have picked up along the way makes me and my all of my colleagues at the College extremely proud. Many of them had returned to education after a period of time away and that challenge in itself cannot be underestimated – it shows how much dedication and commitment it takes to achieve and they have done that.
“Our graduates are leaving us talented and educated people and I have no doubt that they will go on to achieve their goals. I look forward to hearing all of their success stories over the coming years.”
A short film of the CAVC Graduation Ceremony for its Higher Education students can be seen here:
