At this time of year, most public universities in Malaysia are holding convocation or graduation ceremonies and accordingly, many recently graduated students take the opportunity to do pre-convocation photoshoots with the convocation robes.
There are also those who took it a step further by doing creative skits or videos with the robes, such as this woman who documented her academic journey from kindergarten to tertiary-level education.
Besides that, there are also viral videos of graduates doing things you won’t expect while wearing graduation robes, such as speeding down a flying fox zipline or doing house chores.
While these videos are definitely entertaining, many found such actions to be inappropriate and downright disrespectful.
In fact, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) even recently posted a video on its official TikTok page to remind graduating students to respect the convocation ceremony clothes and what they represent.
In the video, UiTM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Shahrin @ Sahib Sahibuddin reprimanded graduating students for using the convocation robe as content.
He asserted,
“Recently, I witnessed a lot of graduates that wear the convocation robes while doing creative acts. I’m sure they want to showcase what was awarded to them.”
“However, in my personal opinion, you should place the robe or mortar board in line with what they were commissioned for.”
Prof Shahrin further elaborated that the wearing of the ceremony robes has a lot of meaning behind it, whereby academicians wear such clothes as a symbol of knowledge being upheld. Hence, he calls on all graduates, especially from UiTM Malaysia to respect the academic clothes.
As of the time of writing, the video has garnered over 404,000 views and you can watch it below:
@uitm_channel Naib Canselor Menasihati Para Graduan Menghormati Jubah Konvokesyen #istiadatkonvokesyenuitm98 #konvo98 #uitmdihatiku ♬ original sound – Universiti Teknologi MARA
So, what do you guys think of the statement by the UiTM Vice-Chancellor? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Also read: M’sian Student Does House Chores in Graduation Robe So That He Can Wear it For More Than 1 Day
