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Graduation NOT cancelled for University of Edinburgh students
05 Jun 2017
Officials at the University of Edinburgh has come out to reassure its final year students that graduation will go on as planned, after a minor hoax resulted in students receiving emails saying the ceremony had been cancelled, The Guardian reports.
In an email titled Graduation ceremony cancelled – no award sent last Thursday, students were told they were “not expected” to complete their studies until later this year, thus only becoming eligible to attend the “next available graduation ceremony”.
“This email was issued in error so please ignore it. No graduations have been cancelled,” Barry Neilson, Edinburgh’s service excellence programme lead said in a message, after worried students queried the university.
BBC reports that the email had claimed the students slated to graduate this summer had not achieved the required credits to receive their degree.
Officials are blaming a software system error for the glitch, but averred that its systems remain in tact and with no breach of privacy.
“There was no breach of our systems and no student data was compromised. The university has written to all students affected to reassure them that their graduations have not been cancelled and asking them to ignore the emails,” the university said.
Nearly died getting this through this morning
Turns out Edinburgh accidentally sent it to every graduating student #nailedit #worldleading pic.twitter.com/tLkECrngY4— Josie (@josie_ord) June 1, 2017
The mix-up riled some of Edinburgh’s students up and worried those who made future plans such as taking up postgraduate courses that would require them getting a degree or a particular class of degree first.
One Twitter user named Jodie wrote: “Nearly died getting this through this morning. Turns out Edinburgh accidentally sent it to every graduating student”.
Another, named Ruth, tweeted: “Massive anxiety and distress caused by Edinburgh University emailing all final years saying they failed. #StudentWelfare #WhatStudentWelfare”
“Once we realised this was a mistake, people were just frustrated and annoyed. Errors happen but this seems to have been a very big error.”
The university is now investigating the incident, according to a statement from the its Student Systems and Administration department. All students will receive their final degree results as per the published schedule, that is, no later than June 16 and for Medicine and Veterinary students, no later than June 23.
“We are looking urgently into this situation. We will be back in contact with you as soon as we can and will also ensure your MyEd/EUCLID screens are refreshed with accurate information.”
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