University celebrates winter Graduation

She commented “Graduation is the culmination of years of hard work by our students and an opportunity to share their achievements with friends and family. Most of those graduating today will have completed masters qualifications or above and, as such, deserve special recognition. I’m delighted to be able to welcome our students, their families and our honoured guests to celebrate this wonderful event.”

Exeter will also award an honorary degree to Steve Edge, and both Santander and the A.G. Leventis Foundation will be admitted to the prestigious College of Benefactors.

Steve Edge came to Exeter to study law in 1969 and graduated in the summer of 1972. He joined the City law firm Slaughter and May in February 1973 and, on qualifying, decided to specialise in corporate tax.

He became a partner at the firm in 1982. He has a very broad ranging international tax practice acting for many of the UK’s largest companies and also a good number of international companies who invest in the UK. Steve speaks extensively at conferences in Europe and the US on international tax issues. He is often consulted by the Revenue and Treasury in the UK – and in the Spring of 2011 was asked to give evidence before the US Congress.

Steve was appointed to the Interim Leadership Board at the University, established by the Vice-Chancellor in 2006 and is now a member of the Alumni Network Group with a special responsibility for Social Sciences and International Studies.

Luis Juste, Director Santander Universities UK, will be representing Santander at the ceremony.

Santander, through its Santander Universities global division, has generously supported the University by funding travel bursaries, studentships and research initiatives – with total funding and pledged support for the University of nearly half a million pounds.

This generous philanthropic funding has supported exchange programmes for both students and academics, research projects, and has provided bursaries for Year Abroad students visiting Latin America and Iberia. Support has also been given to a Mexican research project involving the Graduate School of Education and research in the College of Humanities. In particular, students have received assistance from the Formula Santander Scholarships Programme, an international scholarship and mobility programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
 
The wider community has also benefited from the generous backing for the ‘Campus as a Living Laboratory Project’, an environmental programme bringing together students, staff and local residents, with the aim of restoring natural habitats on campus and creating wildlife corridors linking with other green spaces in Exeter.

In the afternoon, Anastasios Leventis, as trustee of the A.G. Leventis Foundation, will be inducted into the University of Exeter’s College of Benefactors.

Anastasios G. Leventis left provision in his will for a Foundation to support education, cultural and artistic projects in Cyprus, Greece and across the world. The A.G. Leventis Foundation came into being in 1979. Since then, it has remained faithful to these ideals.

The Foundation has supported a number of projects across the University, including studentships, a lectureship and the ‘Leventis Room’ within Classics.

Anastasios is the director of a private investment group, and a trustee of the A.G. Leventis Foundation. He serves on the boards of various companies in Europe and Africa that are active in sectors including food and beverage, banking, and real estate. He also serves as Vice-President on the council of the University of Cyprus and has recently joined the board of Overseers of the Gennadius Library in Athens and the board of WWF Greece. Previously he worked in banking for American Express Bank Ltd. and Credit Suisse Group.

He holds a BA Honours degree in Classics from the University of Exeter and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

More than 1400 degrees will be conferred with 846 graduands processing on the day.Each ceremony will be streamed live from our Graduation Ceremonies website.

Graduation ceremonies take place on January 21 in the Great Hall, University of Exeter at 9.00am, 11.30am and 2.30pm.

Honorary Graduates / College of Benefactors timetable:
9.00: College of Benefactors: Luis Juste representing the Santander Universities programme
2.30: Hon Doctorate: Steve Edge
2.30: College of Benefactors: Anastasios Leventis, trustee of the A G Leventis Foundation