Commencement @ the Commencement of the New Year

This past Saturday, Handong Global University convened its 12th Commencement Exercises.  Throughout my teaching experience in the States, university commencement ceremonies were  traditionally held at the end of the academic year.  You would often hear speakers making the comment that though the ceremony occurred at the end of the academic year, it is called "Commencement" because it marks the beginning of a new stage in the life of each graduate.

The Asian tradition, however, places the graduation ceremony at the beginning of the academic year, and I think they get it right.  Not only does Commencement mark a new start for the many students who are graduating, it also signals a new beginning for the entire university community.  It was a joy to see several of my students, who I had had the privilege of teaching in the past fall term, step up to the platform as their names were announced.

Another excellent tradition is practiced by the faculty at Commencement here at Handong.  The graduates are called up to the dais according to their schools. For example, all of the graduates from the School of Management and Economics are called forward and their names are read.  Next, all the graduates from the School of Life Sciences are called forward.  Later, the graduates from the School of Law, where I teach, are also called forward. 

As each school's graduates are announced, the faculty from that school lines up across the platform. Groups of graduates step up in a line stretching across the dais with a student standing in front of each faculty member.  The student bows to the professor and the professor then takes the tassel that hangs from the student's mortar board and moves it from the right side to the left side thus marking, by this symbolic gesture, the student's passing to the graduated status.  The professor then congratulates the graduate with a hardy hand-shake and often, in this culture, a hug.

As the New Year here in Asia has recently been celebrated, it was a genuine pleasure to participate in Handong's 12th Commencement Ceremony at this the commencement of the new academic term!