CONFERMENT CEREMONY

The Conferment Ceremony is the most solemn academic festivity. The ceremony itself includes a lot of music and speeches. Despite the ceremonial nature of the occasion, it is also an entertaining and festive ceremony where master’s, doctor’s and honorary doctor’s degrees are conferred. In Finland, the first Conferment of Degrees was held at the old University of Turku in 1643, but the tradition of the Conferment Ceremony is much older. The roots of the Conferment Ceremony are in Bologna and Paris in the 13th century, and the tradition arrived in Finland via Uppsala University in Sweden.

The Conferment of Degrees lasts three days. Before the main ceremony, there will be the Garland-weaving ceremony and dinner for master graduands, and Sword-whetting ceremony and dinner for doctoral graduands. During the Garland-weawing ceremony, the escorts of the Master Promovendi weave a laurel garland for masters. In the Sword-whetting ceremony, the escorts of the Doctor Promovendi assist with the whetting of the doctoral sword.

In the Conferment Ceremony, the doctoral graduands receive a hat and sword. The doctor’s hat acts as a symbol of freedom. The sword is a symbol of a weapon of the spirit: it is needed in the battle for what has been scientifically researched and what has been discovered as true, right and good.

The University of Lapland has arranged the Conferment of Degrees in 1999 and 1992. In 1999, the faculties conferred 79 masters, 17 doctors and 15 honorary doctors.