Master Graduation Day: 498 graduates received their diplomas

The graduates were presented with their master's degrees in the following majors: 

• 81 in Business Innovation,
• 54 in Business Management,
• 25 in Strategy and International Management,
• 65 in Banking and Finance,
• 100 in Accounting and Finance,
• 19 in Management, Organization and Culture,
• 21 in Economics,
• 13 in Quantitative Economics and Finance,
• 24 in Law,
• 15 in Law with Economics,
• 12 in International Law,
• 44 in Marketing, Service and Communication Management and Marketing Management,
• 23 in International Affairs and Governance, 
• also 5 additional training in business education.

Role models as trailblazers

"Perhaps without realising it, you are now becoming a role model for all those who leaf through our programme brochures, prepare for exams, and those who may be plagued by doubts: Can I do it? Do I have what it takes to accomplish this?", said Ehrenzeller at the beginning of his address, congratulating the graduates on their Master's degrees. 

The President continued, pointing out that as philosopher and anthropologist Max Scheler stated at the beginning of the 20th century, role models are not objects of blind submission, but are pathfinders. We choose our role models and thus express our ideas of our own future – what do we want to be, what do we want to achieve? Such role models have a liberating effect and help us to be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses. It is not surprising that people whose background, values and visions we share, who are similar to us in our attitude to life, become role models more easily than those who seem completely removed from us, he said. Because in essence, we recognize ourselves in them. 

Examining the contribution that role models play in our lives can, in turn, make us a role model. HSG philosopher Dieter Thomä said, "To be able to become a role model, you first have to have an image of yourself."

Graduation Day can represent the end of studies and the start of a professional future. For Hildegard Kölliker, it symbolises the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one. For the past 14 years in her role as HSG secretary general, Hildegard Kölliker has had the privilege of handing out diplomas to about 20,000 graduates, noted President Ehrenzeller with gratitude.

Singer Malcolm Green and the HSG Combo Band provided musical accompaniment for the ceremony. 

Images: Lautenschlager GmbH