AAU to Graduate Close to 6000 Students Virtually

ADDIS ABABA – Addis Ababa University (AAU) says it will graduate close to 6000 students via a Virtual ceremony on Saturday.

The virtual ceremony of the University’s 70th commencement will be held on July 25, the university announced in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Deputy Director of AAU’s registrar Mesele Birhanu said from the total 5697 graduates, 2370 students are undergraduates who have completed their classes before Coronavirus outbreak both in summer, extension and regular programs.

The remaining are 3, 300 masters, and 236 Ph.D. level graduates, Mesele told The Monitor.

Following the start of the pandemic, the government introduced a directive for all the public universities to conduct graduate-level classes virtually, and make them ready for graduation.

Officials of the University cherished the latest graduates saying “this is a milestone achievement in your life”.

“You are unique in that you have completed your studies enduring the difficult time of COVID-19 pandemic,” they added.

The impact of the outbreak of coronavirus has decreased the number of annual graduates this year by almost a half. AAU graduates an average of 10,000 students annually.

Last year, the University graduated 9,637 students at Ph.D., graduate and first degree levels in the presence of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

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By Sisay Sahlu