As June melted into July, 167 former INTO Queen’s students celebrated their graduation at Queen’s University Belfast during a series of summer ceremonies.
The INTO Queen’s alumni, resplendent in their graduation robes, were among the hordes of students, families and friends who assembled at the Sir William Whitla Hall on the University’s Belfast campus for the faculty ceremonies.
All of the former INTO Queen’s students had studied the International Foundation, International Year One and English language courses in 2015/2016. They were watched by their parents, teachers and families as they walked across the stage to collect their degree scrolls.
One INTO alumni student in particular shone bright, receiving the ‘Highest Achieving International Graduate’ Award. Derrick Chua (pictured), from Singapore, studied the International Foundation in Business and Humanities and progressed to BSc Actuarial Science and Risk Management. He graduated top of his class and received an award from Queen’s Management School for his efforts, presented by local proprietor of Lunn’s Jewellers, Mr Barry McCahon.
Upon receiving his award, Derrick said “I am thankful to the teaching staff and learning environment at both INTO and Queen’s University Belfast. The constant motivational support and bond that I share feels more like a second family and ultimately, it allowed me to achieve ‘Highest Achieving International Award’.
“Graduating with a First Class Honours in Actuarial Science and achieving this recognition has definitely opened countless graduate opportunities for me. I look forward to joining the Actuarial profession and would recommend anyone to join the INTO Queen’s Community and share this experience!”
Also among the graduating crowd was Chin Wei Ren, from Malaysia, who studied the International Foundation in Business, Humanities and Social Sciences at INTO Queen’s 2015 and progressed to a BSc in Finance with a year in industry.
Chin - who was accompanied by his proud mother, father and elder brother – had this to say about his study experience: “I think Queen’s has the perfect facilities for students; as a Finance student, I had access to a trading room with Bloomberg terminals which gave us an insight to financial trading and the experience of what it’s like in the finance industry.
“I chose to study at Queen’s because I fell in love with the beauty of the Lanyon building and the rankings are high in the UK and it is part of the Russell Group. Having studied and lived here for five years, I learned a lot from working for a year in industry, the local people here are very kind and were fun to work with and it’s something that I enjoyed the most about here.”
Some INTO teachers attended the graduation processions in order to celebrate the achievements of their former students and pay tribute to their hard work and dedication.
Among them was Orla McShane, Teacher of Economics, who said: “I’m really proud of the academic achievements of our alumni. Having taught my students from the beginning of this journey, it’s great to see them excel and succeed in their chosen subject areas. I have no doubt they will go on to acquire successful careers for themselves.”
You can view the photos of the graduations on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and a video of INTO Queen’s teacher, Dr Karen Johnston here.