Anyone who graduates in the coming months could go home without a diploma. Due to the global paper shortage, the UG cannot print all diplomas.
A computing science bachelor student was informed about this via email this week. The programme congratulates him on the results achieved; all that remains to be done is to collect the diploma. But unfortunately, that is a problem, the email says.
Due to a paper shortage, the university cannot print all diplomas in time for the planned ceremonies. Therefore, the graduates are given three options to choose from.
Ceremony
They can attend the regular ceremony in October to celebrate with friends and family, but they will not receive a diploma. A second option is to collect the diploma at the next ceremony, which will not be until March next year.
Finally, there is the option for graduates to skip the ceremony and pick up the diploma from the student administration office once it has been printed.
For the student who forwarded the mail to UKrant, the paper shortage is not a major problem. But it is, he says, annoying for foreign students who leave Groningen after their studies.
Economical
The UG confirms that there are delivery problems of the diploma paper. ‘As a result, the paper department is going thrift and they cannot guarantee that the diplomas will be printed on time,’ says a spokesperson.
But she says there is also good news: the order placed last year should be almost ready. ‘That will then go directly to the printer who will put an official watermark in it and then it should be back here by the end of September, so we will have enough paper again.’