Africa-Press – Eswatini. The 2022 Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) graduation ceremony has been cancelled.
The cancellation comes after the institution was torched by unknown people last week Tuesday.
Some of the burnt buildings included research laboratories, which had several computers and a server room.
The server room was where the institution’s entire internet system was controlled, which left the institution without internet connections.
The arson attack occurred while the class of 2022 was preparing for its graduation, which was scheduled for November 11 at Mavuso Trade Centre.
Over 700 students were expected to graduate. This was the first time that the students with their parents would gather at Mavuso Trade Centre after two years following the outbreak of COVID-19.
The institution announced the latest through a press statement issued on Saturday.
“Limkokwing University of Creative Technology would like to inform its 2022 graduates, their parents, guardians and other stakeholders of the decision to cancel the class of 2022 graduation ceremony that was scheduled for the 11th November 2022 at the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre,” reads the statement.
The institution stated that the decision to cancel the event followed the recent arson attack on the institution, citing that the security and safety of students, staff, parents and university partners had therefore become a major concern.
“The university has found it appropriate to cancel the scheduled event and host a virtual graduation instead,” states the university.
“Students and parents will be given full details of the virtual graduation and all preparatory requirements for the same,” adds the institution.
The institution expressed its sincere apology to all its graduates, their parents, guardians and all its partners for the inconvenience caused by the decision.
However, there were mixed feelings about the cancellation of the ceremony.
Some of the students felt there was no need to cancel the entire ceremony, more especially because it was not hosted within the institution’s premises.
“This does not make sense because our graduation is held at Mavuso and I am pretty sure extra security would have been provided,” said one of the students.
Others lamented the costs some had incurred while preparing for the graduation ceremony.
The students revealed that they were not given an option to rent their graduation gowns from the school but to buy them.
They went on to state that some of them had paid the E1 400 for the gowns and wondered if they would be refunded.
“What are we supposed to do with the gowns, we were forced to buy them instead of renting them,” they stated.
Others felt the university should not be blamed but the unknown people who torched the university.
This is not the first graduation to be cancelled as the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) also indefinitely suspended its event, which was scheduled for October 8, 2022.
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