Traditions and Symbols

  The people to be celebrated will receive various insignia, which demonstrate that they have achieved knowledge, skills and honour. Doctors of Science, Medical Sciences and Economics will wear a doctors`s hat during the ceremony: a symbol of power and freedom, and of the freedom of research.

Doctors of Philosophy wear a laurel wreath, a custom that emerged in mediaeval Europe. If the wish, the doctors may also wear a special ring; this symbolises the infinite world of scholarship and the bearer´s fidelity to science. All doctors receive a diploma, another centuries-old tradition.

Also on the stage there are a number of symbols and colours. There is a wooden pulpit at the front part of the stage. When a new doctor is led over the pulpit to the other side, it symbolises the young researchers´s transition from student to teacher.

The circle and the colour red represent the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences; the line and the colour green the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and the square and the colour blue the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

The ceremony celebrates the promotion of new doctors, honorary doctors appointed by the faculties, and jubilee doctors, a title given to those having held a doctorate for 50 years. New professors are inaugurated and welcomed to the university.