A rite of passage: graduation through the eyes of a head of school

14 Jul 2026

We spoke to Professor Thomas Schmidt, Vice-Dean and Head of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, following the first of our 2026 graduation ceremonies, to hear what graduation means to him, and why every ceremony still feels special.

Forty or fifty. That's roughly how many graduation ceremonies Professor Thomas Schmidt reckons he's taken part in since joining Manchester.

Thomas is Vice-Dean and Head of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, and this year his school alone is holding six ceremonies. He'll take part in three of them himself, the first of which took place this week, as summer graduations got underway.

"I represent the school," he said. "I say a few words on behalf of the whole school, congratulating the graduates, and make sure that this special occasion is properly recognised."

Step into Whitworth Hall on graduation day, he says, and you can feel it before anyone's even spoken.

"Every time, there's such a positive spirit in there. People are just delighted to be there, and they want to celebrate. Parents want to celebrate their children. It's a real occasion. It's a rite of passage, isn't it? It's where students turn into graduates. That is very, very special for every single person in the room."

For Thomas, watching that happen after years of overseeing a school's worth of students, most of whom he'll never teach directly, means something specific.

"I think, for me, it's pride," he said. "As head of school, I don't actually teach very much, but I am, in a sense, looking after all the departments and all the students, at least indirectly. To see so many young people achieve such great things, the prizes, the special achievements, the sheer variety of degrees we're celebrating, there's just so much there."

For Thomas, it still means the same to him now as it did at his first ceremony.

"It's a celebration", he says. "It's pride. It's joy."