Monday, 16 November 2015

First public graduation ceremony for the Trento graduates of the University of Trento

The hug of the city together with the friends and the families; a wish for the future

Versione stampabile

A ceremony for the city, a wish for the future. An instant of public visibility for the newly graduates of the University of Trento, and a great satisfaction for all of the local community. A ceremony in the main square, where, unfortunately, has arrived the echo of the dramatic events of the last hours in Paris.

«Our heart and our common sense is exhausted», began the rector Paolo Collini in giving the welcome to the 366 newly graduates of the University of Trento which today were the prominent figures of the first public ceremony of the University of Trento in Piazza Duomo. «As Europeans we are dismayed hearing the news coming from Paris. But we have to try to keep alive inside ourselves, in this occasion as well, the pride to be part of a great culture, and at the same time to stay open the to world. We must be able to combine the comprehension of the reasons of whom is looking at our Country with hope - the thinking goes to the many migrants who knock at our door every day looking for refuge from wars and economic difficulties and also to blend in our social life - with the attention to the safety of our communities».

The Trento graduates, who had their final exam at the end of their degree during the months of July and September, on Saturday, November 14 have receive, in Piazza Duomo, the parchment and have been proclaimed “graduates”.

The initiative has been organised by the University of Trento with the collaboration of the Trento Municipality and the Autonomous Province of Trento.

The Academic Procession left the Rectorate at 10:50 am to reach Piazza Duomo, where, at 11:00 am, the official ceremony began. To welcome the newly graduates and their families in this first public occasion in Piazza Duomo, was Paolo Collini, the rector of the University of Trento.

After the initial moment of mourning and the national anthem, everybody’s thoughts went to the protagonists of this ceremony: the students. Many will stay in Trento to pursue their studies with a master degree. Others will keep this experience of personal growth in the souvenirs’ drawer, and possibly come back in Trentino to undertake their professional project and their life plan. A ceremony which is not only theirs, because if they were able to enrol in the university and to graduate they owe it to their efforts, as well as the commitment of their families and to the investments in infrastructures and knowledge which the Trento community has guaranteed. 

The ceremony started with the institutional welcome. The mayor of Trento, Alessandro Andreatta, addressed the newly graduates in Piazza Duomo by congratulating them for their perseverance, their intellect and effort: «The world needs you: your energy, your competences, your qualifications, your youth. Whatever is your field, I wish you to find the way to give your contribution, to express your talent, to take the place you deserve». At last a special thank you to the Trentino students «of whom the city is proud» and to the students coming from outside who were our guests in these years: «If Trento, today, is a young lively city, we owe it to you for the large majority; you have flooded places, squares, sport facilities, cultural events, bringing a gust of fresh air».

Sara Ferrari, councillor for the university and research of the  Autonomous Province of Trento, voiced a commendation about this new initiative: «Today is an important day for all of you and all of us. The investment in the university education is a competitive advantage of the entire Province. On these basis is justified the financial support of our Province to the University of Trento. For this reason it is right to celebrate in public the achievement of a personal goal, which has a “public” meaning as well».

The President of the Board of Directors of the University of Trento, Innocenzo Cipolletta, underlined the value, also symbolic, of this event: «Graduation is an objective for the students, for their families, for our region, and, in general, for the all Country as well, the growth of which will be more and more based on knowledge and innovation that only culture can generate».

«This ceremony - underlined the rector Paolo Collini during the first programmed interventions - seals the relationship between you, the graduates, and your university; a relationship which will not be, in most cases, fuelled by the daily “attendance”, but based on a bond which will be with you in your personal and professional journey». And he added: «To be a University of Trento graduate will be not only a distinctive element of each one of you, but most of all a tangible expression of an experience you lived in our university, in the city of Trento and Rovereto, in a beautiful region which, thanks to the graduates of our university and to their efforts and success, has the reputation to be a place where knowledge and talent find the space they deserve. You should get the best out of what this community offered you and always remember the more you got, the more you should give back ».

Afterwards stepped in Alessandro Rossi, graduated at the University of Trento in 1994 (in the then Faculty of Economics, today Department of Economics and Management), who is at present marketing director of Pasta Italia, Barilla G&R F.lli SpA. From his part there were some recommendations to whom gets ready to enter a new phase of his life: «What the newly graduates of the University of Trento will live following this ceremony is an important and particularly rich time». He shared some of his life experiences with the graduates and he encouraged them to achieve their professional ambitions.

Giulia Carnevali, representing the best graduates, made a positive account of her studies and underlined the importance of taking advantage of the appealing opportunities which are suggested to enrich the personal and professional journey.

Then , at 11:45 am, the European hymn resounded in the square and the handing of the parchment to the newly graduates started by the rector Paolo Collini and the pro-rector Flavio Deflorian, then the proclamation by the Rector. The official ceremony ended with the typical tossing of the hat, the mortarboard,  on the music of the international university hymn “Gaudeamus Igitur”.

To this first public graduation ceremony were invited to participate all students that passed the final exam during the months of July and September for the degree courses of the Centre for integrative biology CIBIO; the departments of Civil, environmental and mechanical engineering; Information engineering and computer science; Physics; Mathematics; Psychology and cognitive science. And the graduates who attained the title in the September session of the departments of Humanities; Sociology and social research. 

From now on, the University of Trento will celebrate publicly and on a regular schedule this important goal with his newly graduates.

The integral video of the ceremony will be available soon on th Youtube University channel. Further information: www.unitn.it/cerimonia_laurea

More infos in the attached Press release.