Completing one’s studies and celebrating in high spirits amid the current crisis is a challenging undertaking—which makes it all the more wonderful that last Friday we were able to bid a festive farewell to numerous graduates from our bachelor’s and master’s programs after they passed their final exams!
The program for family, friends, fellow students, department staff, and other companions of our newly minted alumni (with an outside temperature of 38 degrees, the term “mint” can almost be taken literally) was more than worthy of the occasion: Encouraging speeches by faculty members and student representatives, musical performances that sensitively captured the emotional moods of the thesis-writing phase (including “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor), the ceremonial presentation of diplomas, and, last but not least, a practical fan as a small gift to help everyone cool off during the champagne reception.
We wish you, dear Class of 2026, much strength and confidence for what some of you may see as a concrete “future” and others as something still a bit more elusive, as well as the critical thinking skills you’ve developed during your studies to address questions surrounding society, conflicts, migration, politics, and more. If you’d like to know what topics our graduates wrote about in their theses, take a closer look at the word clouds in the images: there you’ll see the most frequently occurring topics and terms from the theses of each degree program.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to extend a big thank you to all the Institute’s staff members, without whom such excellent planning and execution of the graduation ceremony would not have been possible.
Here’s to all of you!
