A student scrapbook is not complete without the classical photo-with-diploma. Even in the strange year 2020 most students received their university diploma in person – be it at the University or elsewhere. These six students tell about their big day.

Bregje van de Weijer (24) – Master’s in Communication and Influencing

Pick up your diploma at the helpdesk or have a proper ceremony? Bregje van de Weijer wasn’t sure what to do. She completed her thesis in May, but it took several months before her Master’s diploma was ready to be picked up. In the meantime she’d found a job in Amsterdam. And with pandemic measures being tightened, attending the ceremony was fast becoming less attractive. ‘At first we weren’t allowed to invite any guests; some time later you couldn’t even have a cup of coffee afterwards.’ But she still decided to go for a ceremony: ‘I had to travel to the University anyway to pick up my diploma. So I figured a small ceremony was better than nothing.’

The big day finally dawned, in October. ‘The ceremony was exactly as I had expected: not very personal. But the lecturers did their best.’ Her friends and family followed the proceedings via a livestream. They were waiting for her outside with a glass of prosecco. ‘We also had time for the standard photo on the red and black staircase of the Aula, because let’s face it, you haven’t really graduated until you’ve got this photo.’

Jordy Broekmeulen (27) – Master’s in Public Administration

For his thesis Jordy Broekmeulen had to travel to the European Parliament in Brussels. He was there in March, only a week before lockdown. ‘I managed to interview some people in a café.’ After that all interviews had to take place online, which was very efficient of course, but all this working from home also had its disadvantages: ‘Writing a thesis is lonely work. And since everyone else was also working from home, I did miss the opportunity to brainstorm with other people now and then.’

Broekmeulen was therefore particularly pleased that his diploma award ceremony in October could go ahead at the chapel of the Berchmanianum. ‘It was really nice to see my classmates again.’ His family attended online. ‘The restaurants were still open, so we went out to celebrate afterwards.’ These days Broekmeulen has a job on the side and devotes much of his time to job applications. ‘Unfortunately, all interviews are conducted via Zoom. Good thing I got to practice it during my graduation.’

Iris van den Broek (26) – Master’s in Commercial Communication

Iris van den Broek’s diploma award ceremony didn’t take place in the Aula or at the Berchmanianum, but in the Van der Valk Hotel in Lent. ‘We rented a small room, and one of our lecturers even used some of their research money so we could have a livestream,’ says Van den Broek.

She is thinking of maybe organising a party later on, but for now she’s got her hands full with her new job as online marketer for an advertising agency.

Sander van der Goes (22) – Bachelor’s in Social Geography & Political Science

‘A diploma award ceremony is an opportunity to celebrate the progress you’ve made in your life. In four years’ time you make the best friends ever and you learn so much, so it’s really important to make time for closure,’ says Sander van der Goes. 25 September was his big day. It wasn’t the day he’d dreamed of though: ‘My supervisor wasn’t even allowed to shake my hand.’

Van der Goes understands that the ceremony had to be small, but he’s upset that no guests were allowed. ‘My parents were watching it from their car in the parking garage, my girlfriend from her home.’

Luckily he’ll get a second chance in a few years’ time. ‘I’ve decided to take a gap year to join the Board of DWARS, the youth section of GroenLinks. After that I plan to enrol in the Master’s programme in Social Geography. Hopefully, I’ll be able to graduate with a proper ceremony second time round.’

Ted van Aanholt (24) – Master’s in Philosophy & Science

‘During the ceremony I handed my camera to my father,’ says Ted van Aanholt. ‘But I forgot to explain to him how it works so the photographs are not as great as I’d hoped.’ Luckily, the location was beautiful. Van Aanholt’s diploma award ceremony took place at the Stadsschouwburg. ‘It was supposed to be at the chapel of the Berchmanianum, but we weren’t allowed to have any guests there. After an angry e-mail exchange, we were allowed to use the Schouwburg and invite guests.’

Van Aanholt actually hoped to have his thesis ready in February, but in the end it took until June. In the meantime he learnt how to work productively from home and contracted glandular fever. Still, there was a silver lining: he was interviewed by Trouw about his thesis topic, the almost forgotten ‘diabolical doctor’ Blasius van Parma (1350-1416). ‘The article remained on the shelf for months because the newspaper had no room for it. In June, just as I completed my thesis, they decided to publish it after all.’

Stijn van Nuland (23) – Bachelor’s in History

Every cloud has a silver lining. This is certainly true as far as Stijn van Nuland is concerned. In November he was awarded his Bachelor’s diploma. Family and friends attended the ceremony via a livestream. ‘As a result, my grand-parents could also attend. I don’t think it would have happened if they’d had to come all the way to Nijmegen.’

In the meantime Van Nuland started on a Master’s programme in Journalism at the University of Groningen. ‘The last months of my Bachelor’s I was lucky not to have to follow any lectures anymore. I could plan my own time and focus on my thesis.’ As a historian, he found it highly inconvenient that all the archives were locked. ‘I needed recordings from an old 3FM radio programme which I would normally have looked for in Hilversum. In the end, thanks to some hobbyists I was able to get much more material than I would have been able to find in the archives.’ Months later Van Nuland could graduate after all and he even had his photo taken on the red and black staircase of the Aula.