Thirteen of the first 500 students to graduate from the University took part in a 50th anniversary Golden Graduation at Canterbury Cathedral on 20 July.
Kent organised the Golden Graduation – thought to be the first such event at a UK university – to celebrate the lifetime relationship it has with its alumni. The event presented a contrast to the University’s first graduation ceremony fifty years ago, when the class of 1968 graduated in the Eliot College dining hall at the Canterbury campus.
Those returning for their Golden Graduation were robed in graduation gowns with the appropriate faculty hood and received a celebration certificate in the same way as this year’s graduands received their degree certificate – conferred by University Chancellor Gavin Esler.
The Congregation ceremony saw graduands from the School of History, the Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies and Centre for American Studies receiving their degrees.