Special Period, Special Graduation Season

What should you do before graduation?

Carefully prepare for your thesis defense, dress up for your graduation photos and graduation ceremony, as well as submit applications with a passion. These are usually the experience for graduates at GDUFS.

However, unfortunately, 2020’s graduation arrangements have to be rescheduled as a result of the sudden outbreak of COVID-19. Considering the risk of cluster infection, a lot of universities have postponed or cancelled such activities.GDUFS has also adopted an online defense approach, and has provided effective career and employment guidance to help graduates with online recruitment.

Online graduation oral defense at GDUFS

“Good morning, distinguished professors and teachers, thank you for attending the today’s graduation thesis defense,” a senior student turned on her computer camera and microphone, and then started her oral defense composedly. Different from the previous years, this year’s oral defense is in full swing online. In this special event, although students and teachers are spread all over the world, all of them get together striving for a common goal. Sometimes, videos or pictures are choppy due to the poor network connection, which has no influence on the orderly defense atmosphere. Meanwhile, a cluster of student assistants dutifully complete the screen and word recording work. All members of the online conference room are quite serious and adsorbed in this occasion.

“As a completely new defense method, not only did the “cloud” (online) defense bring a unique experience to everyone, but also it has also led to unprecedented difficulties and challenges,” a senior student at GDUFS said. Thanks to the large amounts of first-phase preparation by many institute leaders for several months. They tested out the video equipment and the software functions used for online defense in advance in order to guarantee that the graduation thesis defense can be carried out successfully. This innovative attempt has changed people's traditional understanding of what constitutes an oral defense. What’s more, it encourages teachers and students to take full advantages of the Internet through which we can study whenever and wherever possible and innovate on former learning methods based on a classroom with a blackboard and a projector.

A precious image of teachers and students after the defense

Online recruitment at GDUFS

Some students are nervously preparing for their online graduation oral defense, while others seize every opportunity to attend job fairs. The student career center of GDUFS also has taken multiple measures to secure employment for senior students.

“I have received the offer from Country Garden and X Spark Education, and even TAL Education Group has sent me an interview invitation,” Cao, a student in college of art of GDUFS, said to her counselor cheerfully. The online video job fair for graduates is held on the “cloud” employment platform, which has drawn hundreds of enterprises covering a variety of industries to attend. Many graduates feel that online interviews are more relaxing than doing them one-site, because they are sitting at home with familiar surroundings instead of an interview room with excessive tension, and they are looking forward to receiving their job offers.

Graduate’s online interviews

In the information era, an online job fair is absolutely not the only way to apply for a job. Official accounts and WeChat groups are also platforms for posting recruitment information. Various “cloud” career talks, online career counseling, and other options which provide more and more job opportunities for graduates to find jobs at home, have been gradually normalized and popularized.

Graduation is such a significant milestone in every student’s educational experience as well as a celebration of their achievements. Sure enough, a number of graduates have struggled to accept this year’s graduation, thinking it leave some regrets. But “cloud graduation” is a necessary move, since it not only a responsible measure for the health and safety of graduates, but also the need for fighting the epidemic.

In addition, a “cloud graduation” actually is a unique experience and a special, memorable way to say goodbye to our youth, through which many graduates complete a series of tasks, including their thesis defense, a “cloud version” of graduation photo and even the graduation ceremony. Although there are still a lot of uncertainties and challenges for fresh graduates, as a dynamic,creative and adaptable young generation, we hold the belief that the fresh graduates definitely can overcome it and get their satisfactory offer!