Congratulations to the Class of 2013

MOL’s CIPD Class of 2013 came from all over the UK to celebrate their achievements at their graduation ceremony in Manchester on Friday 20 September. 

The Class of 2013 comprised graduates from the CIPD Post Graduate Diploma, CIPD Professional Assessment of Competence, and CIPD Advanced Diploma programmes. They were presented with scrolls in a glittering ceremony which took place at the Mercure Piccadilly Hotel in central Manchester.

Colin Gordon, Head of MOL, began the ceremony by stating his belief that, out of all of the many events and ceremonies that MOL host each year, the graduation event best expresses the character and ethos of MOL – the celebration and recognition of success. He was joined on stage by special guest speaker Councillor Roger Jones, Vice Chair of Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, Richard Phillips, MOL's CIPD Programmes Manager, and Paul Mitchell, one of MOL's facilitator tutors.

Addressing the graduates Councillor Roger Jones congratulated them on their achievement, recognising how much more impressive it was as they had balanced the demands of a busy home and work life with the rigours of studying a lengthy, high level, professional qualification. Paul Mitchell offered the graduates a tutor's perspective and reflected that he had once been where they were, having been one of MOL's first CIPD students on the very first MOL Manchester group back in 1991. Richard Phillips reflected on the many challenges that the graduates had overcome as they worked to achieve their success and offered the warm congratulations of the MOL team.
Congratulations on your achievement and for balancing the demands of a busy home and work life with the rigours of studying a lengthy, high level professional qualification.

Colin Gordon closed the ceremony offering a few words of advice and issuing a challenge to the graduates. He remarked that the world of work in which their new skills will be deployed is changing and that in this time of transition and uncertainty people want to be included and part of the solution. "We need a new kind of leadership" he stated, "Leadership that is inclusive, leadership that respects the human being, leadership that is ethical and guarantees the future for us all. You can give that leadership, you can be those leaders."

The ceremony concluded with the traditional group photos and obligatory throwing of mortarboards into the air.