Humanity and wisdom themes at this year’s graduation ceremonies
Students and guests were reminded of what it is to be human in a world of AI at this year’s SOAS graduation ceremonies where more than 1,800 students celebrated completing their degrees.
With speeches from the SOAS President Zeinab Badawi calling for graduates to create a life of meaning and purpose and Chair of Trustees Lord Dr Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE drawing on Peanuts, the comic by Charles M. Schulz, to teach us about success and wisdom.
This year’s honorary awardees urged students and guests to think why entrepreneurship must be more than just the creation of wealth, with Fadi Ghandour who spent decades building Aramex, one of the Arab world’s best-known companies, seeking us to understand that it’s not simply what you build, but what changes because you built it.
Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, writer and founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation, showed us how art can change how the global majority is seen and Baroness Catherine Ashton explained one of the fundamental rules of diplomacy – that you can’t take relationships for granted and expect them to hold when a crisis arrives.
Award-winning social entrepreneur Atif Choudhury, who has helped shape national and international thinking on disability, neurodiversity and social justice, once came to SOAS as a student with dyslexia unsure of where he fitted in. He spoke personally about the people who saw his ideas, not just the things he found difficult and how that sense of belonging shaped what came next.
Guests enjoyed music from singer, songwriter and Kora player Kadialy Kouyate as well as African drumming from Mbilla Arts, a community interest company, who provided an interactive experience using rhythm and movement to celebrate the rich cultural traditions of West Africa. Students appeared on Instagram with who they would like to thank - from friends, scholars and special people in their lives.
Our Vice-Chancellor Adam Habib said: “Graduation week reminded us that this ceremony is far more than a formality, it is about real human connection” and in the ceremony he called for graduands to “fulfil their mission by leaving the world a better place than you found it.” The SOAS Students’ Union Co-President Sam Hardy said: "to be a leader is to be a bridge” and wished students a “myriad opportunities to be bridges."
More of our highlights are available to view on SOAS’s socials media channels – Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and TikTok.
