Graduating Science students turned away due to overcapacity ceremony

An Auckland student is disappointed to be missing out on graduating with his peers, while a Massey spokesperson says there are no restrictions for graduates and their guests to celebrate in other ways.  

Applications to graduate at Auckland’s College of Sciences ceremony in May was closed four days early as the venue had reached capacity.  

Alex Berry, a graduating Engineering student, had missed out on attending the main ceremony.  

“It's gutting not being able to be in the same ceremony as the rest of my peers, especially as this is the final engineering graduation for Albany, and an engineering cohort of about 20 we were all a quite tight knit group.” 

Photo / Massey University

Engineering was cut from the Albany campus at the end of 2023, with many students moving to Massey’s Palmerston North campus to continue their degree, or different universities altogether.  

An email from the student registry obtained by Massive gave students who couldn’t attend different options.  

These options were to either join the Manawatū College of Science ceremony in May or November, graduate online through academic board and receive their certificate by mail, or join a different college's graduation in Albany.  

While Berry was able to join to Māori ceremony, he said the university should have been more organised, “It's not unknown how many people have completed their degrees in the past year”.  

A Massey University spokesperson defended the decision: “There are no restrictions for graduates and their guests to celebrate in other ways throughout the day, including the graduation procession.” 

The spokesperson went onto say that some additional seating would be available outside the auditorium where guests can watch a live stream of the ceremony.  

“This is the first time we’ve had to close a ceremony earlier than expected.” 

When asked if the university expected high demand for graduation ceremonies, the spokesperson said the number of students who apply to graduate was never a surety.  

“The numbers eligible to graduate are not always a predictor of who will apply to attend a ceremony. We have the same number of ceremonies available for students to graduate in as we did in 2024.”  

The spokesperson promised that all others who had already applied to graduate in ceremonies in April and May, across all three campuses, would have the opportunity to do so.