USM celebrates Convocation under new norm in COVID-19 era.

USM PENANG, 11 December 2021 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is all geared up and ready to hold its 58th Convocation which will begin with the 2nd Session this Monday, 13 December 2021 at its historic Dewan Tuanku Syed Putra (DTSP) at the USM Main Campus.

The 1st session has been held earlier at Istana Arau, Perlis on 2nd December for the honorary degree recipients. The Chancellor graced the ceremony and presented the degrees to the 4 respective recipients and the Chancellor’s Gold Medal Award to the best final year student in all fields.

The convocation will continue with the 2nd Session from 13 December onwards for the next 9 days, with one session to be held each day in the morning. This is to facilitate theprocess of sanitisation of DTSP in the afternoon.

The three USM Pro-Chancellors will take turns to hand out scrolls to 5,964 graduands in the nine sessions. This brings the number of USM alumni to 185,563.

A total of 538 graduands will receive their doctorate (PhD) degree, 1,361 master’s degree, 4,031 bachelor’s degrees and 34 diploma of nursing.

As the current COVID-19 situation demands strict compliance to preventive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) from the government, it is with regret that USM will not  allow parents or family members of graduands to enter the hall.

At the same time, graduands and staff/committee members involved with the graduation ceremony are also required to follow strict SOPs.

A slight change in movement of graduands will take effect upon arriving at the campus grounds. Graduands will be dropped off by their parents or family members at the ‘Padang Kawad’. The USM commuter buses will then take them to the ‘Kompleks Dewan Kuliah’, from which they will proceed to the adjacent DTSP on foot. Once the ceremony at DTSP is over, the graduands will board the commuter buses to return to ‘Padang Kawad’, where they will meet and return home with their parents or family members.

Similarly, only 30 people, namely members of the Board of Governors, the University top management and selected Senate members will be allowed to be on stage for each session. The much trimmed down stage party is again in adherence to the SOPs.

Preparations at DTSP included the usual decoration of flowers and plants are well under way, as are the banners and buntings which are placed at strategic locations throughout the Main Campus. The aim is to create a festive atmosphere, though on a slightly moderate scale.

USM recognises and appreciates the tireless efforts put in by its Convocation Working Committee comprised mostly of its staff members over the past week in getting ready the Campus for the big day.

USM wishes all graduands a wonderful and memorable convocation ceremony. At the same time, stay safe and do abide by the COVID-19 SOPs.

Text: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin