UP graduates prepare to soar

The University of Pretoria (UP) awarded 1 612 degrees and certificates during the 2022 spring graduation ceremonies.

This was only the second in-person graduation since 2020, due to the national lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Of these qualifications, 124 were doctorates, 411 were master’s degrees, 313 were honours degrees and 427 were certificates. The Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences awarded 23 PhDs. UP’s business school, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, awarded over 100 master’s degrees.

Among the notable graduates this spring graduation was the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies’ Mathias Shunmugam, who was awarded a doctorate. The 25-year-old is believed to be the youngest PhD holder in the Faculty’s 105-year history.

Previously, Shunmugam was on the Student Representative Council in the sport portfolio. In 2019 he was among a group of students who skipped their graduation ceremony to join the #Walk4Access initiative, a campaign to raise funds for students with historical debt to complete their degrees.

It was also a double celebration at the Mayson household when twin brothers Liam and Connor, from the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, were awarded Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degrees.