The next Ceremonial Conferment of Degrees at the School of Business will be celebrated in May 2022

News updated on 21 January 2021:
The next Ceremonial Conferment of Degrees will be organised on 12 to 14 May 2022. The celebrations will be held in Aalto Töölö, the former main building of the School of Business. 

A ceremonial conferment is the most distinguished celebration of a university. The idea behind the ceremonial conferment is that new graduates and doctors are accepted as full members of their scientific community and introduced to that community. Although universities are builders of the future, conferment ceremonies respect the history and traditions of universities.

Next year’s Ceremonial Conferment of Degrees at the School of Business will be held from 12 to 14 May 2022. The master's degrees on new alumni (promovendi) with graduation dates between 19 March 2016 and 31 March 2022 and doctorates on alumni with graduation dates between 29 April 2016 and 30 April 2022, will be conferred in the ceremony. In addition to these young promovendi, jubilee masters and doctors from 1971 and the new honorary doctors of the School of Business will be conferred at the ceremony. A Jubilee Master and a Jubilee Doctor are masters and doctors who were conferred exactly 50 years ago. Hence, the masters and doctors conferred at the Ceremonial Conferment in 1971 are invited to the Ceremonial Conferment in 2022. 

The Ceremonial Conferment of Degrees is a long-standing tradition at the School of Business. The year 2022 will mark the 76th anniversary of the first conferment ceremony in the field of business, which was held in 1946.

Three days of celebration

The three-day Conferment of Degrees at the School of Business begins with a garland weaving event hosted by the parents of the young woman selected as the Maid of Mercury. The Act of Conferment takes place on the following day. The Kultasauvallinen (Bearer of the Golden Staff) conferment cantata composed by Uuno Klami to the words of P. Mustapää is played during the Act of Conferment. The Conferrer of Degrees makes a speech to the guests and promovendi. The promovendi then receive a green garland from the Maid of Mercury, representing the laurel wreath placed on the head as a symbol of dedication to science and victory.

‘The Act of Conferment ends with the Finnish national anthem, after which the participants are able to take part in a conferment church service or a secular event,’ Coordinator of conferment ceremony tells.

The evening programme consists of a conferment banquet. The banquet includes speeches to the School of Business, the Conferrer of Degrees and honorary doctors, with the honorary doctors and invited guests responding to the speeches. The banquet is followed by a ball. The third and last day of the celebrations is reserved for a herring breakfast or lunch, where the participants can discuss the previous day’s celebrations in a relaxed environment.

The officiants for the next conferment were appointed from the community of professors. They are the Conferrer of Degrees Matti Keloharju, Master of Ceremonies Nina Granqvist and Head Usher Matti Sarvimäki. Niina Palm, Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration, accepted the invitation to act as Gratista of the Conferment.

Recollections from Pekka Ilmakunnas, Conferrer of Degrees at our last conferment ceremony

Professor Pekka Ilmakunnas, who served as Conferrer of Degrees at the 2016 event, is also part of next year’s Conferment Committee, which brings continuity to the ceremony arrangements. He recalls that something surprising or an unintentional deviation from the protocol always occurs in the conferment ceremony.

‘For example, there is a certain order in the academic procession, but people may take the wrong position. Fortunately the audience doesn't know how things should go, so generally no one notices the mix-ups. There is also a certain element of anxiety concerning the weather. When the participants are dressed in their best, heavy rain during the procession in particular would have a negative impact on the atmosphere. We have umbrellas ready for the procession, but whenever I’ve been involved in different roles (as Conferrer of Degrees, Master of Ceremonies or father of the Maid of Mercury), the weather has been dry although not always sunny.’

‘At the 2016 conferment ceremony, President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinistö was one of the honorary doctors. The conferment delegation visited the Presidential Palace well in advance to request his consent to be awarded an honorary doctorate. Prior to the conferment ceremony, we checked the facilities and arrangements at the School of Business and Temppeliaukio Church with the president’s aide-de-camp. The president’s participation in the Act of Conferment and banquet also required some special arrangements. However, everything went well.’

Further information:
Coordinator of the conferment ceremony, Event producer Anni Enkkelä
[email protected]
 

Text: Terhi Ollikainen and Pekka Ilmakunnas

The ceremony in the picture above was held at Professor Pekka Ilmakunnas' house. A group of Helsinki Academic Male Choir KYL sang a serenade to the Maid of Mercury Ilona Ilmakunnas. Her parents Professor Ilmakunnas and Docent Seija Ilmakunnas are standingnext to their daughter. In the middle of the singers Professor the Conferrer of Degrees Jyrki Wallenius and Head Usher, Professor Matti Liski on the right.