Once again, the graduation ceremony for the UIC's Faculty of Dentistry was held in the gardens of the Sant Cugat Campus. This year saw the graduation of students from the first edition of the Bachelor's Degree in Dentistry, following the programme's adaptation in 2009 to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The 84 bachelor's degree students were joined by around 70 other students from the master's degree, postgraduate, clinical internship and doctoral programmes.
The new graduates, who hailed from a total of 18 different countries, were represented by Victor Díez (bachelor’s degree), Vicente Platón (postgraduate) and Cristina Cuadros (doctoral). The guest speaker at the ceremony was Antoni Gómez, the President of the Official Association of Dentists of Catalonia (COEC).
The event was presided over by Dr. Lluís Giner, the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, who congratulated the new graduates and encouraged them to strive for professionalism and excellence in their careers, and to always continue to learn; to which end, he assured them, the doors of the University would always be open. Dr. Giner also encouraged the students to continue to take part in charitable initiatives whenever possible to help the disadvantaged.
Specifically referring to the bachelor’s degree students, he gave a brief summary of two of the major changes made to the programme in order to adapt it to the EHEA: namely, a 30% increase in the amount of practical work, and the introduction of a final degree project. Dr. Giner then went on to congratulate the new graduates on the fact that over 90% had managed to complete the project and achieved grades of “very good” or “excellent”.
After giving the graduates and postgraduates their diplomas, and thanking the class representatives, Dr. Giner drew the ceremony to a close and invited all those present to join him for refreshments.
