Chelsea University UK

Hi all,

It's rather a required practise in HK to wear a hat during graduation ceremony...

 

I have been to many graduation and am yet to see no headgear. My bachelors requires a plain black mortar, my masters a black mortar edged in gold and with a gold tassle. A doctorate is a bonnet. The hood remains pulled over towards one shoulder to show [a] the size of the white edging designating the level of degree and the interior colour showing the famulty/degree. The tassle is moved from one side to the other when the degree is taken.

Looks like you are the odd one out ... but I suppose that it is cheaper to pull the hood over your head than to hire a mortar board <grinning widely>

Incidentally - you do not wear any headgear?

 

Hi Peter

I am certainly convinced that the headgear habit is entrenched in the newer countries and is now being mimicked by the new Asian countries (China, India, SE Asia, and no doubt in time in Indonesia). Clearly, I exaggerated (innocently) its demise in the UK but the trend is now set in to dispense with it - the habit of carrying the mortar board and not wearing it is but the first step to it being dispensed with.

I suspect also that the regulations quoted are observed in the breach. Youth wears what it wants and while our non-UK graduates are dressed formally - many with kilts, without hats - a lot of the UK graduates are far more informal (many Scottish graduates also wear kilts or trews). They all wear the black scholar's gown, and receive their hoods after the Chancellor taps their head and shakes their hand, but this is often done to UK people wearing trainers and jeans, with several showing bare midriffs, a few with impossibly small skirts, and not a few with comfortable cleavage on display. Our Chancellor, in his 70s manages to remain on his feet for an hour or so and seems to enjoy being so close to the 'parade'.

Also, along with the polite clapping as each passes the stage en route for their degree certificate, increasingly there are loud outbursts of cheering from groups of friends and informal waves or bows back by the graduands. Old stagers tell me they are 'shocked' at this trend. Most of us on the stage smile at it.

No, I do not, and never have, worn headgear at any graduation, including my own three. Nor does anybody else from the extensive faculty on either the academic procession, all dressed in their various differently coloured gowns from their different universities and different degrees, or when sitting on the stage. A most spendid object for photo's. But no hats.

We have a graduation next week which I shall be attending (two a year) and I intend to ask around about headgear, mortar boards in particular before the parade in the robing room. I have only seen one hat, worn by a lady with a PhD from the University of London. I shall report back here.

As many of us have degrees from both Scottish and English universities, I should get a wide range of experience of the mortar board mystery. The mystery being: why has the mortar board died out, is dying out, in the UK with its older, tradition-steeped universities, yet being taken up with such determined enthusiasm by newer universities around the world (and now even High School, Junior Schools and nurseries [!] in North America)?

My original concern, you will recall, is that ALL degree mills advertise their rubbish with illustrations of people wearing mortar boards to fool the gullible. The sadness is that their 'students' (or rather 'marks') have been conned and their photgraphs wearing mortar boards are a sick joke.

 

I am a member of the Yahoo! group on academic dress, and yesterday I posted a question about the decline of headwear, specifically mortar boards, used with academic dress in the UK, just to learn the viewpoints of the board. I have had two responses so far, both regarding Ireland and both supporting Professor Kennedy's viewpoint. One respondent stated that it is common to see only a few individuals among the graduands wearing them. This invoked a response that the decision should not be left to the individual. Nevertheless, I have been studying UK academic dress for quite a while and have viewed hundreds of photographs of graduation ceremonies. There are still a lot of mortar boards out there, though the trend may be to dispense with it. The AD forum currently has an open poll on whether the mortar board is old-fashioned. Predictably (this is a board devoted to AD admirers, after all), the poll is currently posting overwhelmingly in favor of the MB. However, the fact that the poll is being taken at all is some suggestion that there is controversy about its continued use.

I must say that, as informal as ceremonial occasions can be in the U.S., my experience is that U.S. universities keep a pretty tight rein on wearing academic dress. I was a marshal for a while in the Midwest, and the university marshal's instructions regarding wearing academic dress (usually called "regalia" in the US) were quite strict. That said, I can't imagine a marshal refusing to let a graduand participate in graduation ceremonies because he/she left the mortar board at home. Such occasions would be exceptions, however, not usual practice.

Professor Kennedy's comments about behavior at graduation ceremonies is interesting. People, it seems, are similar the world over. Shouting from the audience and acknowledgement from the stage were common in the US even when I graduated from college (early 1970s). I also remember standing in the procession line and the marshal checking each student to make certain that he/she was wearing clothing underneath the gown. The ceremonies were conducted in Texas in summer, and it was also during the "streaking" fad. Today, it is not uncommon for demonstrations to erupt from the audience when "their" graduate is announced. Some even blow air horns. It's meant to be a joyous occasion, I know, but it can feel a little like being at a football game at times.

To get back to Professor Kennedy's original point, is it the use of the mortar board only or the general picture of graduates in academic dress that has the marketing allure, which is the point for degree mills. Academic dress connotes the status that comes from obtaining an academic credential. Clearly in many parts of the world, the mortar board is the most readily identifiable symbol of this, but even in areas where academic dress does not include headgear, the connotation would be the same. Perhaps the pictures would not have as much impact without the mortar board?

marilynd

 

Degree by Self learning and expereince

There is lots good information on this forum. I want to make a question here that why universities and colleges donot accept the knowledge obtained by self learning and expereince?. I know many of my friends who have big big degrees but no knowledge, inconrast there are people who have bundals of knowledge sincere with proefssion, interested but no degrees.

Are Universities scared of loosing their business by a recognizing the self study and expereince or there is really an issue. I have seen many time the people doing outbreaks in their feilds but they dont have any degrees in related feilds.

Are there any people knowing the importance of self study and the supporting self study and experience recongzing as equivalent to college degrees. I feel such people are more valuable and asset of their professions. As may it is difficult to learn individually and very easy to get degree just by going to univeristy.

 

I don't see your need to bump up an ancient thread. It is a free world, you can even use your HP or Canon printer and print out whatever cert you want just based on how you feel about your prior examinations. How about a Doctor of Letters? Considering that this is your first post, it really makes me wonder what you are trying to achieve.

 

Acually there are good universities that award doctorate degrees based on self learning and experience (AKA doctorates by publication). I do not know of any in the USA but there are such degrees in England (sometines limited to faculty) and Japan.