On Sunday, 24rd July, all faculty members and graduating students will have gathered backstage by 15:45 (3:45 pm) at the latest.
A traditional piece of ceremonial music will start playing at 16:00 (4 pm), and after the first three minutes’ opening fanfare, with a change in cadence the Academic Processional will begin. As previously rehearsed, the two columns will slowly disperse to their respective rows and seats, and will remain standing until everybody has entered, and the University President has sat down.
This will be followed by the singing of the Turkish National Anthem, and a recitation from the Holy Koran.
Next, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prof. Atilla Arkan, President of Ibn Haldun University, Prof. İrfan Gündüz, Chairperson of the IHU Board of Trustees, and Mr. Bilâl Erdoğan, Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees, will address the audience.
After these preliminaries, the rest of the program will be divided between two major sub-sections: the awarding of the graduate diplomas, and the awarding of the undergraduate diplomas.
Prefacing the awarding of the graduate diplomas will be a speech delivered by the elected representative of the MA and PhD candidates. This will be delivered by Ms Maria Taiai from the Alliance of Civilizations Institute. It will be followed by the awarding of the Doctoral and then the Master’s diplomas.
Prefacing the awarding of the undergraduate diplomas will be a speech delivered by the elected representative of the BA candidates. This will be delivered by Mr Abdülkerim Pirim of the Law School. It will be followed by a set of special prizes and certificates of recognition for the Departmental Valedictorians of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and then the awarding of the Bachelor’s diplomas.
It will finally be time for all members of the Class of 2022 to toss their caps in the air. As they celebrate, our exit music will start playing as the signal for the Academic Recessional.
Outside, after a long ceremony there will be plenty of time and space for food and drinks, and for academics, students and families to meet and celebrate together. All festivities are expected to end by 21:00 (9 pm) or so.