Graduation
Short course graduation day is a time for celebration, reflection, acknowledging new friendships and experiences gained, changes in perspectives and an intense period of learning. It marks the end of an era before an even better one begins - one where the individual puts all of the things which they've learnt to great uses.
UWC short courses should host a graduation ceremony, or a final, well-facilitated reflection event. This will formally mark the end of the short course and cement friendships among participants and their motivations for continuing as changemakers in their home communities. You should celebrate all that the team has achieved together and as individuals. The event should feature the presentation of the official UWC short course certificate and could even include an inspiring graduation speech.
Below you'll find the UWC short course certificate and step-by-step instructions on how to edit this, and an example graduation speech provided by a previous short course.
Graduation Certificate
The official UWC short courses certificate must be presented to all UWC short course participants. It is signed by the Executive Director of UWC International, Faith Abiodun, and can be edited to reflect the specifics of your short course (i.e name of each participant, name of your short course and the dates when they attended the short course).
You can then send the certificates to each participate digitally or you can print them off.
Editing Instructions
When you click on the above link, you will be directed to a page that looks like the below screenshot.
Click 'Use Template'
If you are not already logged into a Canva account, at this stage you will be asked to login to your existing account or to create a free account.
Once you have done that, you can start editing. To edit the text for the [Name of Participant], [Name of Short Course] and [Date], simply double-click on the field and start typing! You will see that there are two versions, one with only Faith Abiodun's signature and one with a space for your short course organiser to sign the certificate. You can choose which one you use. The below screen video will show you how to do this more closely.
Once you have inputted all the information, go to the 'Download' icon at the top of the page to download your design. For the highest quality, we recommend downloading the certificate as a PDF. From there you can either email the certificates to your participants or can print them off.
Blank Certificate
Below is a black certificate if you prefer to print out and fill out a graduation certificate by hand.
Graduation Certificate Blank_2021.pdfGraduation Speech and Reflections
It is best practice to deliver a motivational, impactful graduation speech to participants during the graduation ceremony. It helps to mark the occasion and facilitates reflection from the participants. Below is a sample graduation speech, provided by the Together for Development short course team, to show you what could be included in a short course graduation speech.
Together-for-Development-2018-Graduation-Speech - Lukas Wallrich.pdfIn addition, you can include some of the following self-reflection prompts in your graduation speech, or in conversations on the last day of your course, to facilitate the ongoing self-reflection among facilitators.
25 Self-Reflection Questions for Learning