In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the atmosphere of graduation ceremonies, which are usually busy with celebrations from parents and relatives of the graduates, has changed. Graduation at most universities is now done online (online). However, this is not the case with Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) which continued to carry out the Period IV Graduation Ceremony for 2019/2020 and Period I for the 2019/2020 Academic Year offline and online on Wednesday (9/9) and Thursday (10 / 9) at the Sportorium Building, UMY.
Rector of UMY , Dr. Ir. Gunawan Budiyanto, M.P., IPM., Revealed that this was done in response to the desire of most students to feel the atmosphere of graduation even though they had to deal with strict health protocols that had been regulated by the university. “Our discipline in implementing health protocols is the key to fighting this pandemic, therefore UMY has compiled and implemented strict health protocols in the implementation of this graduation,” he explained.
Furthermore, Gunawan expressed his gratitude as well as his apology to the graduates as well as parents and guardians for the big changes that occurred at this graduation. “We would like to thank the parents for having put their great confidence in UMY to entrust their sons and daughters in carrying out their education until today, but we also apologize for not being able to fulfill the request to bring their mothers and fathers to today’s graduation ceremony because it is related to the health protocol that we have implemented,” he said.
To open the offline graduation, UMY started implementing health protocols even before the day of the graduation ceremony. Prospective graduates from outside the city are asked to be present in Yogyakarta no later than 14 days before the graduation ceremony and are asked to do a rapid test if they come from areas that are considered red and black zones. In addition, graduation rehearsal was also bypassed. On the day of the graduation ceremony, graduates are required to come to campus alone without being accompanied by their parents and relatives. In fact, the point of delivery and pick-up of the graduates has been determined to keep no one other than the graduate in the campus area. The graduates are also asked to maintain a minimum distance of 1 meter, use the masks and face shields provided, check their temperature at the main gate of the campus and in front of the Sportorium Building, provide hand sanitizers and wash hands, and are asked not to gather and take photos together with fellow graduates.
Meanwhile, online graduation was conducted through the Zoom Meeting platform and was livestreamed on the UMY Youtube and Instagram accounts. The graduates who carry out the online graduation can still feel the same atmosphere because the certificates and graduation attires have been sent long before the D-day so that they can be used during the online graduation from their respective residences accompanied by their parents and relatives.
UMY graduated as many as 763 graduates in the IV period 2019/2020 and 1231 graduates in the first period of the 2020/2021 academic year. This online and offline graduation ceremony involved the hard work and cooperation between the organizing committee, the UMY security and order team, the UMY COVID-19 volunteer team, and the UMY campus cleaning and sterilization team as the important agents to provide happiness on the participants’ sacred day. (ays)
