[gallery ids="2874,2875,2876,2877,2878,2879,2880,2881,2882,2883,2884,2885,2886,2887,2888,2889,2890,2891,2892,2893,2894,2895,2896,2897,2898"] The College of West Anglia’s Higher Education students celebrated their achievements at its Annual Graduation ceremony on Saturday. The ceremony is the most prestigious event in the college’s calendar and was attended by the higher education students celebrating their degree success. The event was held at the Corn Exchange on Saturday, October 4. The academic procession left the Town Hall at 12.10pm and processed to the Corn Exchange, with the ceremony starting at 12.30, finishing at 1.45pm The public shared in the event as the civic procession left the Town Hall, walked through the town centre, before arriving at The Corn Exchange for the award ceremony. At end of ceremony, due to wet weather conditions the procession, now including the graduates, took a shorter than normal route around the Tuesday Market Place and back to the Corn Exchange. The academic procession of college staff, governors, guests with the addition of the graduates, was headed by the Mayor of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Barry Ayres and David Pomfret Principal of the college. The students, known as graduands up until they graduate, received their certificates in Higher National Qualifications and Professional Qualifications. Certificates were presented to the students by Mr Pomfret and Steven Bennett, The Secretary & Clerk at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in front of proud family, friends, college governors and staff to mark their success. In addition, the college celebrated ARU Student of the Year Award and ARU Alumni Award 2014. The ARU Alumni Award was presented by Dr Apurba Kundu, ARU Deputy Dean, to Mandy Graves, BA English & Sociology with First Class Honours. The University Centre West Anglia (UCWA) student of the year award was presented on behalf of ARU, by Chris Challender, the college’s Higher Education Manager to Robert Bickers, BSc Computer Science with First Class Honours.   The winner of the Anglia Ruskin University Alumni Award 2014 is .. Mandy Graves, BA English & Sociology with First Class Honours. In their nomination paper Mandy’s tutors say: “From first day of the course Mandy was enthusiastic about her studies, giving100% effort to produce work of an exceptional standard in both Sociology and English. Her commitment and her desire to learn continued throughout the programme and culminated in a Major Project which demonstrates her unique skills and a level of academic theory that reflects Mandy’s effort and dedication in the face of difficult and demanding challenges in her personal and family life. In class Mandy was always there to support and interact with other students who needed help on both the Humanities and Psychosocial pathways. Her contributions to class discussion were of the same high standard as her written work and in her final year Sociology module she threw herself into the role play element in a truly inspirational way. Mandy is an exceptional student who thoroughly deserves this award.” In conclusion - on behalf of the BA Humanities teaching team who have had the pleasure of teaching her over the years I would like to congratulate Mandy Graves as the recipient of the ARU Alumni Award 2014. UCWA Student of the Year Award presented by Chris Challender. The University Centre West Anglia Student of the Year Award Robert Bickers, BSc Computer Science with First Class Honours. In his nomination paper Robert’s tutor says: “I am pleased to nominate Robert Bickers for HE Student of the Year. Robert came to the college in 2009 to study on the Level 3 Diploma for IT Practitioners where his good work and commitment to study gained an overall Merit grade. Robert progressed to study on the BSc Computer Science programme where his outstanding effort and commitment throughout the programme is reflected in his achievement of First Class honours. During his academic studies Robert has always completed and submitted his assignments on time without any requests for extensions and has always been willing to help his fellow students with practical suggestions and good advice. For example, Robert took on a mentoring & support role with younger student on the Information Technology & Games Design courses where he organised a series of project workshops which generated positive feedback from students. Robert has been an inspiration to his fellow students with his strong work ethic and quiet determination to give his best and he is a deserving recipient of this award ” In conclusion - on behalf of the BSc Computer Science teaching team who have had the pleasure of teaching him over the years I would like to congratulate Robert Bickers as the recipient of the UCWA Student of the Year Award 2014. Mr Pomfret said “The fact that we are able to offer such a diverse and high quality range of Higher Education locally is due to the successful partnership we have established with Anglia Ruskin University.” He added “Our commitment to Higher Education has never been stronger and we want to raise aspirations, meet local employer skills needs and provide greater opportunities for everyone”. The College wants to establish a state of the art University Centre building on the King’s Lynn campus to stimulate rapid growth in HE take-up, with new course development focus firmly on meeting local employment skill needs.