Class of 2020 You did it!

Maynooth University conferred 3,782 graduates this year with a range of degrees and diplomas at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

“Through all of this, you somehow found the resources and the resilience to complete your studies and it has been our privilege to confer on you today the degrees that you so richly deserve.” “I know you all miss the joy and ceremony of a normal graduation day, coming together for a ritual and a celebration that appropriately and wonderfully marks this important transition in your life. We will have that day, as soon as we can, we will convene and celebrate together, for a second time, your wonderful achievement.”

This was a graduation like no other for the Class of 2020, as students were conferred in virtual ceremonies in September and October, hosted by the University in the Aula Maxima on campus, to comply with public health measures. The ceremonies were watched by 17,602 viewers in 53 countries. 2020 marked the first conferring for a new Bachelor of Civil Law (Law & Criminology), with 41 students graduating with this degree.

President of Maynooth University, Professor Philip Nolan, congratulated graduates as they embark on their life journey: “This has been a most unusual year. In your final year of study we were all struck by a pandemic, the likes of which we have not seen for a century. You’ve all been affected by this. Your lives and studies have been severely disrupted, and some of you have the additional strain and grief of seeing loved ones severely ill or losing loved ones to Covid-19.