the perpetuation of degree ceremonies - lancaster lancaster university, uk. the perpetuation of...

The Perpetuation of Degree Ceremonies

Sandra M. Wearden, M.A.

July, 2017.

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for

the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Department of Educational Research,

Lancaster University, UK.

The Perpetuation of Degree Ceremonies

Sandra M. Wearden

This thesis was completed as part of the

PhD Doctoral Programme in Educational Research

Declaration

This thesis results entirely from my own work and has not been offered previously for

any other degree or diploma.

Signature ........................................................

i

Abstract

Despite being able to trace their heritage back over eight hundred years, degree

ceremonies have been taken for granted in higher education which is evident when

attempting to find previous studies about them, yet there are indications this may be

changing. As significant numbers of new higher education institutions open around

the world, and more institutional collaborative partnerships are forged, how degree

ceremonies are prepared, maintained, and performed has become a matter of concern

for those involved. At the moment, with few studies to draw from, organisers and

leaders in institutions are having to resolve how they arrange degree ceremonies

through previous experience, or by trial and error. Hence, the focus of this research is

on how these remarkably resilient ceremonial occasions are assembled and

perpetuated over time and particularly during a period of global growth in higher

education.

Degree ceremonies are important to institutions not just because they provide a

celebratory experience and rite of passage for graduating students, but also because as

this study shows, they provide them with opportunities to publically display, and

transmit their reputation, credentials and heritage to a wide range of stakeholders.

This makes them fertile territory for research but contemporary studies have been

rare. Those that have been produced emanate from the USA, and focus on challenges

and effects large, lengthy ceremonies produce. Few studies have considered how

these ceremonial occasions are assembled outside the UK, USA and Europe, or how

material artefacts contribute to the construction of meaning and extension of

ceremonies. Similarly, scant attention has been paid to extensive preparation and

maintenance work that goes on behind the scenes often hidden from view to most.

ii

Resting on a constructionist theory of knowledge, this inductive comparative case

study draws on basic theoretical devices used in actor-network theory to foreground

these matters. A variety of qualitative methods were used to collect data and a three

stage analysis applied to examine degree ceremonies at four higher education

institutions in the UK, one of which has collaborative institutional partnerships in the

UK, and overseas.

The analysis provides insight into social and material actants involved in ceremonies,

and how their relations with others intensify effects of institutional authority and

hierarchy. Material actants are shown to be involved in the extension, stabilisation

and adaptability of degree ceremonies over time and space. By making visible

preparation and maintenance work that goes into degree ceremonies, this study

highlights the culturally situated nature, fragility, dynamism, adaptability and

vulnerability of these highly ordered events, which are so often viewed as consistent,

fixed and stable.

There is evidence too of how degree ceremonies are being increasingly used by

institutions for marketing purposes as they are drawn into a global competitive

‘reputation race’. In this progressively competitive and fragmented global context the

western model of degree ceremony being perpetuated helps to sustain and project a

collective image of higher education. It does so by connecting higher education

institutions with the rich heritage of the past, capturing the present, and alluding to

future ceremonies to come. In doing so, degree ceremonies reinforce the heritage,

authority and credentials of higher education as a sector, whilst at the same time

provide individual institutions with opportunities and choices about how to build their

own distinct institutional reputation.

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Contents

Abstract....................................................................................................................................i

Contents ................................................................................................................................ iii

Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... vii

Publications derived from work on the Doctoral Programme ...................... viii

List of Terms and Abbreviations .................................................................................. ix

List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xii

List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1

1.1. A Changing Terrain in Higher Education .............................................................. 1

1.2. Why Degree Ceremonies? ........................................................................................... 3

1.3. Conceptual Clarification and Terminology .......................................................... 3

1.4. The Paucity of Current Literature about Degree Ceremonies ...................... 5

1.5. Theoretical Framework of Inquiry ......................................................................... 6

1.6. Principal Questions and Aims ................................................................................... 7

1.7. Methodological Approach .......................................................................................... 8

1.8. Structure of Thesis ...................................................................................................... 10

Chapter 2 What are Degree Ceremonies? .......................................................... 14

2.1. The Origins of Degree Ceremonies ....................................................................... 14

2.2. Inception Ceremonies at Medieval Universities in Europe .......................... 15

2.3. Ceremonial Mace ......................................................................................................... 19

2.4. Bedels .............................................................................................................................. 21

2.5. Academical Dress ........................................................................................................ 23

2.6. Contemporary Degree Ceremonies in Higher Education .............................. 27

2.7. Overview......................................................................................................................... 31

Chapter 3 Relationships between Growth, Marketing and Degree Ceremonies ............................................................................................... 35

3.1. How is Higher Education Growing? ...................................................................... 35

3.1.1. Institutional Growth ...................................................................................................... 36

3.1.2. Growth in terms of Student Population ................................................................ 40

3.1.3. Overseas Students and Student Mobility: The Return of the Travelling Scholar? .............................................................................................................................. 42

3.2. What is Driving Current Growth in Higher Education? ................................. 44

3.3. Establishing an Approach to Marketing .............................................................. 46

3.4. Degree Ceremonies as Potential Sites for Marketing ..................................... 48

3.5. Overview......................................................................................................................... 51

Chapter 4 Framework of Inquiry and Methodological Route ..................... 53

4.1. Position being taken in this Research.................................................................. 53

4.2. Why Actor-Network Theory? .................................................................................. 56

iv

4.3. How will Actor-Network Theory be applied in this Study? .......................... 63

4.4. Sampling: Initial, Planned and Final .................................................................... 65

4.4.1. How Growth in Higher Education is related to Sampling in