Festive diploma ceremonies for online PhDs

Festive diploma ceremonies have been held on five consecutive Saturdays for those PhDs who were required to hold their defences online due to corona restrictions. More than 100 PhD graduates received their doctoral diplomas in the presence of family, friends and colleagues. 'In the previous academic year - just as in the year before that - many defences could not take place at a physical location. Instead of in the Aula or the Agnietenkapel, the PhD candidates had to defend their theses from behind their computers. This was naturally extremely disappointing. The defence is a watershed moment, the end of years of intensive work. It is important to mark this moment with a ceremony, in the presence of family, friends, colleagues and supervisors, on location at the university.