WMU Graduation Ceremony in the Class of 2010




WMU Graduation Ceremony 2010
Two graduates of WMU PhD program, Abhinayan Basu Bal of India and Kevin Ghirxi of Malta, received their degrees, along with 71 students graduating from the Malmo-based MSc program in Maritime Affairs, and 15 from the distance-learning Postgraduate Diplama in Mairne Insurance. The graduates of 2010 bring the total to 3,213 from 162 countries and territories, all making a tremendous impact on the global maritime sector.


In his speech, Mr. Boomgaarden noted that Germany had been one of WMU's founding countries, and had been very supportive of the University since 1983. " The World Maritime University is a unique model of international learning and cooperation. It meets important needs of both developing and developed countries, as well as of the industy. This is why today many World Maritime University graduates occupy senior management and policy-making positions in their countries or at an international level."


The Chancellor gave the graduation address, in which he observed: "There is, today, a huge demand for highly-trained, skilled and knowledgeable personnel to operate and manage shipping, both ashore and at sea; and the need to regulate it as an industry that is ever-evolving from the technological poing of view, has become more acute nowaway than in the past. In this context, the concentration, in former years, of the minds of regulators on ship construction and equipment as the principal means of improving safety at sea and the protection of the marine environment has latterly been supplanted by a focus on the human element,"


During the ceremony, the annual special awards to students were announced:
・Fang Ying of China's Ministry of Transport won the Chancellor's Medal for Academic Excellence, the Pierre Leonard Prize for the best Female Student and the Informa Law dissertaion prize
・Swe Swe Zin (Sasakawa Fellow) of the Myanmar Maritime University won the C. P. Srivastava Award for International Fellowship
・K. R. Deepak Kumar (Sasakawa Fellow) of the Indian Coast Guard won the Lloyd's Maritime Academy dissertation prize


Sasakawa Fellow's Reception 2010
Graduation day was prceded on October 9 by the annual reception given for the Sasakawa Fellows by the Ocean Policy Research Foundation of Japan. Mr. Eisuke Kudo, Special Adviser at OPRF, made an address to the graduands, and then each Sasakawa Fellow received a special certificate from Mr. Masazumi nagamitsu, Executive Director of The Nippon Foundation, to make their graduation.


Tree-planting ceremony 2010
For the seventh year in succession, the graduating students presented a living gift to the City of Malmo. Each year, trees have been planted in a range of sites for the enjoyment of the people of Malmo. This year, a Turkish Hazelnut was planted, which will become a large and imposing tree with marvelous autumn colors and large nuts. It was planted near the 2008 and 2009 trees in Slottsmollan Park on September30. A large group of students from the graduating class took part in the ceremony, where the City of Malmo was represented by Mr. Kent Andersson. The total number of WMU trees has now reached 82, and they continue to symbolise the living and growing friendship between the students of WMU and the people of Malmo.


Sue Jackson
Associate Academic Registrar
World Maritime Univerisity