Graduation

Each year, OU degree ceremonies take place inside UK prisons. How different are they from the other graduation days? Nigel Gibson of Student Services reveals all, with his account of 2009's ceremony at HM Prison Swaleside, Kent...

On Thursday 7 May 2009 a team from the OU in the South East conducted a degree ceremony very different from the normal celebrations: no music, no cameras, no cheering family. We wore gowns, as did the graduate, but the box of gowns was searched on the way into HM Prison Swaleside. Swaleside is one of three prisons on the same campus on the Isle of Sheppey, and is a category B establishment with a capacity of nearly 1,000 men, more than half serving a life sentence.

After being checked at the gatehouse we were escorted through the prison to the chapel. Swaleside is built with the main corridors passing through the centre of the buildings, so it gives the impression of the archetypal gaol; lots of steel gates and very little natural light. With an OU banner the chapel became part of the OU for a few hours, and in the same way that any other degree ceremony is conducted the graduate was robed and presented to the regional director and a representative of the regional academic staff group. We were joined on stage by the governor and the education, training and employment manager. The audience was made up of prisoners and staff and they clapped and cheered as enthusiastically as we might expect at any other ceremony.

In addition to the graduate, we also presented those students who had been awarded certificates and diplomas. In total the achievements of 12 men were celebrated. The prisoners and prison staff were surprised by the ‘informal formality’ and many commented that they hadn’t realised how seriously we would take the preparations, even to the extent of checking how to pronounce each name and making sure we used preferred names rather than the name under which the student is registered.

We’d usually do this with individual graduates before a ceremony but here we checked everything with the education manager and confirmed it as the men arrived in the chapel. We also explained to each of them the format of the ceremony.

Photography inside prisons is strictly controlled but an officer had permission to take some shots, so we gathered together for group photographs and then we enjoyed a buffet lunch. In a small room, rubbing elbows with men who might be spending the next 10 or so years in prison, we talked about studying and assignments and the frustrations we all find when doing a course. While some of the issues are specific to the environment, many are common to all students; time management, space to study, finding someone to talk to who understands what distance learning really means and complaining about word limits and referencing.

We also learnt a little about how much OU study can help prisoners. One man commented that completing An introduction to the social sciences (DD100) had given him a better understanding of himself and the society in which he did the things which led to him being in jail. A number also said that completing a course gave them the confidence and self-esteem which, in other circumstances, they might have been trying to find through less acceptable means.

Finally we congratulated the graduate again and packed the gowns and banner and were escorted back to the gate. Even though it wasn’t bright sunshine when we left there is always a feeling that it’s good to be out.

• Meet some of the other 2009 OU graduates
• What about the honorary graduates?