Kastamonu University's 2023–2024 academic year graduation ceremony was held on June 3, 2024, at Emin Baydil Sports Field. At the ceremony, thousands of students were proud to graduate from Kastamonu University.
The ceremony, hosted by our Rector Prof. Dr Ahmet Hamdi Topal, was attended by the Governor of Kastamonu Meftun Dallı, Kastamonu MP Fatma Serap Ekmekci and Halil Uluay, Chairman of the Justice Commission Mehmet Keskin, President of the Administrative Court Mahmut Taşçı, Deputy Mayor of Kastamonu Hasan Fehmi Taş, heads of public institutions and organisations, protocol members, Vice Rectors Prof. Dr Mehmet Atalan, Prof. Dr Ömer Küçük, Prof. Dr Kasım Yenigün, Secretary General Şevket Bahçacıoğlu, academic and administrative staff, students, and their families.
After our graduating students marched in a cortege, the graduation ceremony continued with a moment of silence and the playing of the national anthem. After the moment of silence and the reading of the National Anthem, Rüveyda Karaca, who graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, made the opening speech of the ceremony.
In his speech, Karaca said, “The education, mission, and determination we receive from Kastamonu University will guide us in achieving the goal of building our beautiful future. Of course, this process will have many obstacles, but we will never give up. We will stand upright to succeed and overcome the obstacles one by one. I sincerely believe that we will work to change the bad as we dream of a livable world and show that we are a part of the 'we' as we have experienced with each other in these rows.” After his speech, Karaca nailed his name to the graduation age log
“Despite being a young university, Kastamonu University continues to achieve significant successes.”
Our Rector, Prof. Dr Ahmet Hamdi Topal, said that although our University is still a young university, it has managed to become a higher education institution that has achieved significant achievements and adds new ones to these achievements every day.
Reminding that academics bring students to this day by raising them with great effort and care, our Rector thanked the academics for their devoted and qualified contributions, saying that academics not only provide them with knowledge but also teach them their responsibilities as individuals, sharing and solidarity, that they are responsible to society as a university graduate, and that they are a role model for students to be guided throughout their lives.
Our Rector reminded us that the families who endured all kinds of difficulties after they opened their eyes to life have the most significant share in the success achieved by their children and thanked the families for raising precious children. Stating that they have taken the first step into a new era in which the accumulated knowledge gained in the long educational journey will be put into practice, our Rector reminded us that education continues for a lifetime and emphasised that life with exams is entirely of unlimited possibilities and that diplomas are not the only thing that determines the future.
Our Rector said, “Your contributions, experiences, efforts, and productivity—in other words, your differences—will determine your future. For this, it is important that you first discover who you are, accept yourself as you are and improve yourself. In your business life and academic studies, you should never lose your loyalty to your country, nation and ideals. Remember that a career and success achieved at the expense of breaking away from your values and roots are meaningless and soulless. We are confident that you will strive not to win at any cost but by doing the right thing, by the sweat of your brow, by respecting moral principles and the values of our ancient civilisation.”
“Gaza did not graduate this year because all humanity failed.”
Our Rector drew attention to the human tragedy in Gaza and said that these innocent people in Gaza, who have no crime other than living in their land, are being killed, massacred, and genocided every day with worse and worse brutality by a group of people who have no sense of humanity. Stating that universities and students who provide education with scarce means are being destroyed, our Rector said: “The University of Gaza, where knowledge echoed in its walls, is now under the rubble of the walls that held it, and under the same rubble, the teacher and the student, the past and the future, the father and the son lie together. A nation's rights, laws, honours, and future are being destroyed. These innocent brothers and sisters, who have no crime other than living in their ancestral lands, are being killed, massacred, and genocided every day with worse and worse brutality by a rabid and inhuman mob. While all this is happening, we have witnessed that the modern world has fallen silent, let alone preventing what is happening and supporting the murderers. In short, humanity is over. The whole world has failed.”
At the end of his speech, the Rector congratulated the students on their graduation and wished them a healthy, happy, auspicious, and prosperous life after school.
After the Rector, MP Fatma Serap Ekmekci and Governor Meftun Dallı delivered speeches, congratulated the students and their families, and wished them success in their new lives.
Awards were presented to our students who ranked in the rankings.
After the opening speeches, the Kastamonu University Raksan Folk Dance Ensemble took the stage and performed folk dances. After the performances, awards were presented to the graduates who had graduated from our university with a degree. At the end of the program, our Rector, Prof. Dr Ahmet Hamdi Topal, presented awards to the first prize winners of the faculties of our university, Governor Meftun Dallı to the second prize winners of the faculties, MP Halil Uluay to the third prize winners of the faculties, MP Fatma Serap Ekmekci to the first prize winners of the Vocational School of Higher Education, Deputy Mayor of Kastamonu Hasan Fehmi Taş to the first prize winners, Mehmet Keskin to the second prize winners, and Mahmut Taşçı to the third prize winners of the Administrative Court.
The first part of the ceremony, where awards and certificates of achievement were presented, ended enthusiastically with the protocol members and students coming together for a group photo and throwing their caps into the air.
After the cap-throwing ceremony, the concert part of the graduation ceremony program started. Our students had unforgettable moments with the songs of Can Kavalcı and his orchestra after Fehmi Kökgöz and his orchestra.
