Graduates urged to ‘shape the world into a better place’ as family and friends celebrate achievements of Northeastern’s London students

The south bank of the River Thames was the backdrop to the celebrations of almost 100 students that graduated as part of the Class of 2024.

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LONDON — Moments after receiving his bachelor of arts in politics, philosophy and economics, Ciaran Telfer told his fellow Northeastern University graduates that their degrees were only the start of what they could achieve in life.

“There is a chance for us, not just here at this university, but for our whole generation,” he said, “to reach places that can shape the world into a better place.

“And I think it is important to aim for that because, at the end of the day, we’re not here long. So don’t aim for a normal job. Aim for happiness and aim to leave something behind. 

“A society only grows great when the oldest of us plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit.”

Close to 100 degree and degree apprenticeship students received degrees during a Northeastern University graduation ceremony in London on Friday.

On a day of clear blue September skies in the U.K. capital, families, friends and loved ones gathered at Queen Elizabeth Hall on the south bank of the River Thames to applaud the efforts of graduating students.

Telfer paid tribute to Principal AC Grayling and President Joseph E. Aoun, saying the London university had become “bigger and better every year since we started here.” 

Students graduated in subjects ranging from art history to law, while a host of degree apprentices — students taking part in a U.K. program whereby their company funds their higher education study — also marked the completion of their studies.

The apprentice graduates celebrated achieving degrees in subjects including artificial intelligence and data science, and digital technology solutions.

Dean Scott Wildman said 34% of those graduating as part of the Class of 2024 had achieved first class honors — the highest accolade in the British degree system — with 60% receiving an upper second-class honors, the second-highest award.

Grayling told those graduating that their achievements had put them “in a special position.”

“If you think about it, 6.8% of the 8 billion people on this planet have a university degree,” said Grayling, a philosopher and Northeastern professor. 

“And a much smaller portion of that percentage are the degrees held by people who have been at a major university in the developed world. Northeastern University is one of the top 50 universities in the U.S. and in the top 200 universities in the world. This puts you into a kind of elite, in a way, but something that is merited.”

The students’ accomplishments would likely provide them with “greater opportunities” in the future, Grayling said.

“The great thing about having a higher education of the quality that you’ve had and the success that you’ve achieved is that the world is holding up fruits to you in all sorts of ways,” he continued.

“And not just in terms of career, but also in terms of opportunities. To be the sort of person that an education makes you — an educated person: a thoughtful, observant, watching, seeing, listening and hearing person, a person who has been provided with gifted horizons and greater opportunities. So I applaud you, you have done a wonderful thing.”

Prizes were handed out to students and faculty for outstanding contributions to university life and for the quality of their submitted work.

Celia Lucea Orjas, who graduated with a bachelor of science in politics and internal relations with psychology, was one of two students commended for their dissertation or final project.

Wildman told the hall how Orjas’ final submission, “Symptoms of the System: A Bio-Political Approach to the Opioid Epidemic in the United States,” had “carefully dissected” the ways in which patients living in neo-liberal and capitalist societies “are turned into responsible consumers.”

Law with creative writing student Gretchen Felten was the other winner, having been singled out for her screenplay titled “More Passion.” Wildman said her supervisor found the piece, which is set in the communist-controlled North Korea, “not only entertaining and simply hilarious but ethically and critically grounded.”

Wildman told the students that the university was “sincerely grateful” to have had “intelligent and independent graduates such as you.”

“You so clearly reflect our values. I have the utmost respect for every one of you,” he added.

There was just time for one big class photo before the mortarboard-wearing graduates were dispatched, glass of fizz in hand, to take more celebratory photos with the London skyline as their backdrop.