The University of Cumbria is set to welcome 1278 graduands to Carlisle Cathedral, with thousands of guests expected to join the celebrations.

Pupils from three Cumbria Education Trust schools will also be there with choirs from Workington Academy, Whitehaven Academy and Yewdale Primary School, Carlisle providing the musical accompaniment to the ceremonies at Carlisle Cathedral.

Along with the hundreds who are being awarded their Bachelor or Masters Degrees Emeritus Professor John Lee will receive an Honorary Doctorate, the university’s highest honorary award.

Emeritus Professor Lee is a past President of the British Ecological Society and the International Society of Ecology.

He earned his PhD in 1967 and embarked on a 26-year career at the University of Manchester, during this time he served as Head of the Department of Environmental Biology,

Later he returned to the University of Sheffield and assumed the role of Professor of Environmental Biology, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Pure Science.

His research focused on plant adaptation to extreme environments, including fieldwork in Cumbria and the Arctic.

Vice Chancellor Professor Julie Mennell DL said: “Our graduation ceremonies are a culmination of all the hard work and commitment our students have to their courses and chosen field. It is a fantastic way to celebrate the end point for our students’ successes to date.

“Our university is proud of what we have achieved in the last academic year including breaking the ground of our new Barrow campus development, the establishment of the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine and the recent Graduate Outcomes survey that ranks us as the top university in the North West and tenth university nationally for graduates in work and further study 15 months after graduating.

“We’re excited to see how our latest graduates will use their new higher-level skills to strengthen the workforce in their chosen fields.”

Nine ceremonies will take place across the following three days:

July, Tuesday 16,

• 10am ceremony: Several Film and TV students from the university’s Institute of Education, Arts and Society who are involved in the Backing the Blues exhibition celebrating the history of Carlisle United FC are graduating in this ceremony.
• Details about the exhibition can be found here.
• 3pm ceremony: Emeritus Professor John Lee, a past President of the British Ecological Society and the International Society of Ecology, will receive an Honorary Doctorate, the university’s highest honorary award.

July, Wednesday 17,

• 12noon and 3pm ceremonies: Learners at these events include –
  • International students from Robert Kennedy College in Zurich, Switzerland who have studied courses such as MBA in Artificial Intelligence, Business Administration and International Business Law.
  • Lakes College in West Cumbria where they have successfully completed degree level programmes in key industries such as Nuclear Engineering.
  • Students from courses delivered in partnership with Nelson & Colne College in Lancashire will graduate with degrees in BEng in Electrical & Electronic Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering as well as BA in Education.

July, Thursday 18,

• Many successful graduates from the university’s health programmes will go on to serve across the NHS, including paramedics who have studied in the workplace in trusts across England and Nurses.
• Colleagues from the recently established Pears Cumbria School of Medicine will be in this academic procession for the first time.

All ceremonies will be live streamed on YouTube. All information, including how to watch the live streams, can be found here.