September 2004
Lead Stories

Every Graduate has a Story

Glancing across the amphitheatre on graduation day, it is important to remember that each proud smile represents years of hard work and achievement.

But for some students, there were more than just exams, dissertations and hard study between them and their degrees.

Take for example Mark Tipping (pictured right), who successfully graduated with a 2:1 in Business and Management Studies. During Mark's third year he suffered serious illness during his third-year placement. His marketing role with Liverpool-based cards and gifts company Wizard came to an end when he started to suffer severe fatigue.

Doctors diagnosed vasculitis - a disease which causes inflammation of the blood vessels - and Mark was referred to the hospital where he spent eight weeks recovering.

Mark decided not to defer his final year and returned to finish his degree amongst his friends. Although he was concerned that he was rushing things, Mark said that with the support of his friends and department "returning was definitely the right choice".

Mark, who thanked Sylvia Bentley, Dr Peter Prowse and Dr Myfanwy Trueman of the School of Management for their support, plans to search for a job in marketing.

Matthew McGivern was another graduate who overcame severe health problems. Matthew came to Bradford in 1998 but had a stroke in his first year. He had to take 18 months out and started his European Studies degree again in 2000.

Matthew, 23, said: "Everyone was very helpful. The University really supported me and my family and even helped my parents get accommodation here. I was told by a psychologist not to come back but I was adamant that I wanted to finish my degree."

While some students overcame illness to win their degrees, there were other challenges thrown up for others.

In Bev Bray's case, there were two not-so-small events that got in the way. Bev originally began her Biomedical Sciences degree in Dundee, but after one year of study, the birth of her daughter Aelis in 1999 and her son Keith the following year disrupted her academic plans.

Bev came to Bradford with her family and after a three-year gap decided to pick up on her degree here in September 2002.

As a mother of two toddlers, Bev said studying full-time had been difficult, and after balancing her days with study and childcare there was little time for anything else. However, Bev seems to have a taste for study now as she plans to begin her PhD in Microbiology this September.

28 September 2004

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