Malaysian graduation ceremonies an eyesore

No, I have nothing against the sights of mortarboards and gowns. (Hopefully) the fresh graduates who are wearing them have the brains (and mentality) to match the degrees that they received. Congratulations to those of you who have graduated recently! I'm sure it must be great to finally step out after working hard (ahem) for several years. Graduation ceremonies in my mind, need not necessarily be grand, but it should be tasteful and should not sound patronizing.


Picture taken from Joan Chew's blog with permission.


Unfortunately the problem is not only limited to local Malaysian education institutions. Degrees from foreign universities (via local programmes) appear to get even shoddier treatment:

Above: The graduation ceremony details printed on what appears to be office paper and mounted on the green velvet (even calling the curtain 'velvet' is dubious). Horrid! Picture taken from World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities


Let's put a different graduation ceremony in comparison. Take mine for example.

My graduation ceremony (Chancellor's chair prominent).

Granted that Malaysia has a lack of cathedrals etc to make a really spectacular graduation ceremony, but quite frankly I can think of several improvements. Like getting rid of the horrible, horrible backdrop. Replace it with some velvet curtains or something! You don't need to announce in huge letters across the stage who is presiding over the ceremony; that's what the ceremony pamphlets are for!

The institution's logo would also look so much better if it is mounted onto a standard and stood discreetly at the side of the stage. Maybe some plants here and there to spruce things up a little. Instead of those horrible styrofoam/ inkjet printed backgrounds. Please lah. Its one of the most significant milestones in life (for most people anyway); don't ruin it with a disastrous backdrop.