 It's Virtual Graduation Day! I've got a little hat, got this from Amazon 2020, year of the pandemic where our graduations were cancelled and they're all online. Gutting. Absolutely gutted that we haven't got a proper graduation. My graduation day was my visualisation to get me through uni. Every single day when I was having a tough day I saw myself at graduation, throw my hat open the air with all of my uni friends and that's what got me through. So I am really gutted but I also know that there's a pandemic, people are dying and this is the safest thing for us. So Virtual Graduation for now. Hopefully there's going to be something in the future. Proper ceremony would be absolutely lovely but for now I've got my Amazon hat and this this old dress you know may as well make some sort of effort for it even though it's online. So guys, I've got a disaster, vlogging disaster. So as you know it was my graduation yesterday, I screen recorded the whole thing. However for some reason it was automatically set to remove the audio so the whole video was muted. I'd screen recorded the whole Virtual Graduation for everybody so everyone could see and my live reactions and it was all muted. I watched it back last night because a couple of people wanted copies of it because they didn't get to watch it all and I was like yeah I've got a copy of it. Let me just check it and it was completely silent. I'm gutted, I'm absolutely gutted not only is it ruined my vlog for this week and showing you all. I mean I've got little bits but now other people can't see it and oh I'm gutted. So yeah so the bits that I have taken luckily I live recorded my action so you can hear some sound in the background so I'm going to try and attach those clips to the video links that I've got and hopefully it works guys. Never mind, here it is. So here we go, clicked on my emails and ready to log into the graduation room. Here we are. Starts in one minute. See how this goes. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, action. Connecting to room. Oh, welcome. Yes, it is connected to some sort of broadcast. Conservatoire. We thought it would be a lovely thing to do to commission a brand new work to celebrate the cohort of our amazing students who are graduating this summer in these unprecedented circumstances. Whilst we may not be together physically, we are still very much together musically and the students have approached this project with their usual fantastic combination of enthusiasm, virtuosity and open-heartedness and I couldn't be prouder of them. So without further ado, let me introduce the world premiere online of Ryan Linham's The Legend of the Lockdown Leavits. I think it's a terrific piece and I hope you really enjoy it. Well, this year that isn't possible quite yet. We will make sure you have that moment and when we're able to hold gatherings again, every single student that graduates this summer will be invited to an in-person ceremony to mark your achievement in the traditional way. Thank God. But in the meantime, we didn't want to let this summer, the moment of that achievement pass by without celebration, without fanfare and so I'm really glad you've been able to join us from wherever in the world you might be because one of the things that we've learned through the last challenging months is that virtual events like these do give us a unique opportunity. They give us the opportunity to bring people together wherever they are physically located. He's being cut off. The Birmingham City University is my great pleasure to welcome it to the celebration. It might look different to what you're imagining when you first stepped through the university doors all those years ago. Let's face it, everything looks different, doesn't it? After four months of lockdown, I had to watch YouTube video to remember how to put on my trousers. But let's make one thing clear from the start, it doesn't change the magnitude of your achievement. In fact, it makes it so much greater. What you've achieved, my friends, giving everything you've had to contend with this year is completely astounding. We are all in awe of you. So first things first, and I don't care whether you're in your bedroom, your grandma's kitchen, like me, or sitting in the garden with your family dog. I want you all to give yourselves a great big cheer and raise the roof. It's celebration time! But the only bottles of alcohol we'll be getting through today are hand sanitiser. Little tip, if you tilt it to the light, it almost looks like flaming sambuca. You've done it! So don't be shy. Let your neighbours know all about it. Listen, man, all they've completed this year is a thousand-piece jigsaw and tiger king. In fact, let me raise the roof. Shout it from the rooftops. You're a graduate, after all. Ready? After three, one, two, three. Each and every one of you celebrating today has shown dedication and personal commitment to just be here. You stand at what is the beginning of the next chapter of your lives. You're on the first rung of the ladder, which will take you to exciting new careers and opportunities. You're ready to make a positive difference to the world around you. You, my friends, are the class of 2020. 2020. The year that will feature more public questions than any other. Now, no one will ever forget you. Just by being here, you've shown that you've got what it takes to be a success. Resilience, determination, a commitment to hard work, and most importantly, how to stealthily WhatsApp your mates during the Zoom lecture. And those things are going to stand you in such good stead as you embark on the next stage of your lives. Look at you all. You didn't think you'd get here. You didn't think you'd stay the distance. And you didn't think you'd make it without going insane. And that's just spending four months unable to get a cab out. But you did. And you're here, celebrating as all your hard work has paid off. Now, it's an honor for me to be here with you, joining the celebrations, as you mark the beginning of your professional lives. I'm looking forward to the time when I can see your happy, smiling faces in front of me in a physical celebration, wearing those funny hats and me in the big fancy black and gold robes like a black Dumbledore. But until we can do that, we're going to have a great time today, behind the screen, just like we've all gotten so used to over the past few months. And I know that you might not have the official cab to wear just yet. But if you've got a little look in your box of goodies that we sent to you, we sent you a box of goodies, there's something that will do the job for today. Now go on, get that cardboard cab out that we sent you and put it on. I had to buy my own cab, Lenny. I had to buy my own cab, Lenny. I had to buy my own cab, Lenny. Ring the bell. Normally, today, you'd throw it in the air, but by the time you've shown four months of lockdown here, it'll already be six feet high. Now, get a picture taken, because this is going to be a special day. That feels so stupid. And besides, you know, anybody swiping on hinge is going to see you with a cardboard box on your head. I think, yeah, I really want to know more about that person. You should all be so proud of yourselves, graduates of Birmingham City University. Now, normally, at this point in the ceremony, I always say something about whether you imagine this moment when you started here. But as we've already established, what do you want to do with them? But you'll also have learned things about yourself. For example, I've just covered that as long as you say the new normal beforehand, you can just about get away with having cake for breakfast. You might have changed your politics, your beliefs, or your ambitions. I don't think my ambitions will go from being a Marvel superhero to getting a haircut, although in both cases, you get to wear a cape. University's got a funny way of changing it because it provides you with a place to meet people from all sorts of different backgrounds, a place where your existing beliefs and values can be challenged. It's a place where you find out the type of person you're going to be. And of course, it's a place where you'll build strong and lasting relationships with some of those people from different backgrounds. Some of them will be your friends for life. Just thinking 20 years, you could be sitting with your friends talking about that weird day back in 2020 when you were all sat in front of a computer screen with a little paper hat on to celebrate the biggest achievement of your life today. No one will ever take these things from you, well, unless you accidentally chuck the paper hat and the recycling. Not the achievements and pride in what you've done, nor the sense of belonging you feel when you meet another PCU graduate because your PCU journey is not ending here. You're going to be part of a community of people who are all proud of your achievements, who will support one another and cheer each other on. The PCU community is very special indeed. I'm proud to be part of that community and I've spent a very happy and fulfilling four years as chancellor here. Things are very different back then, right? In those days, you only went to a castle to get knighted. Now you drive there for an eye test. What I find unbelievable is that Dominic Cummings only had to drive 250 miles to find somebody who likes him. And this year, they gave me another title, y'all. That I'm visiting professor. He's so incredibly proud to hold because it's linked to the work of the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. We launched the centre right at the beginning of lockdown, but I'm really pleased to say that its work has continued. We're conducting research with the ultimate aim of making sure all of society is represented across the media. I speak from experience. I spent 45 years at the BBC and I was often the only black person in the room, but only black person in the room. I was self-isolating before it was mainstream people. Our aim is to help support a fairer, more inclusive landscape where young people from all backgrounds have no limits placed on their dreams and ambitions. I became chancellor at BCU because I believe passionately in education and the power of education to transform lives. Earlier this year, I officially opened a centre in King standing in Birmingham, where BCU is running, with a charity called Inter University. The centre is based in an area where few young people go into higher education and offers academics support and mentoring to promote the aspirations of the young people who live there. And the day we opened the centre was brilliant now and it showed exactly why we need something like it. There were kids there as young as 10 or 11 who were dreaming big and have been encouraged to follow those dreams. I even met the most talented 13-year-old juggler you'll ever see who's determined to make it big and entertainment. Good luck, ma'am. Times and precedente times is so important that we celebrate with you the achievements of our class of 2020. For our graduates, this celebration represents the culmination of all your hard work and effort which has gone into your studies and the success you've achieved. Graduation is a tradition that most of us love to share with our family, friends and loved ones. So I ask you to make sure you have a glass of something. I have one here. I've got glasses on. To raise during and at the end of this ceremony. It's important that not only do we celebrate your success but also salute all those people who've supported, listened to and encouraged you throughout this journey of personal professional discovery. This celebration of your success is a rite of passage from novice to expert to quote Patricia Benner and your transition into the profession you chose. As the class of 2020 you have experienced the transition from university to practice in the most demanding and difficult of times. Who would have thought back at the start of your journey into your nursing and mid-riffing careers that you would qualify and emerge into a world which was experiencing its very first pandemic. Who knew how nursing and mid-riffing practice would have to evolve and adapt during this time and the difficult decisions you as frontline staff would need to make at time when the requirement to balance the needs of your profession against the needs of your family was up most in your minds. As Kerry Washington said in 2013, you and you alone are the only person who can live the life that can write the story you were meant to tell. We know that as BCU graduates you are brave courageous and unconditional. You have risen to the challenge within whatever role you have played within the NHS and the wider healthcare services. You supported the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands and further afield in a time of great need and personal sacrifice and for that we thank you. Congratulations, I'm so proud of you all and your achievements. I'm now going to introduce Professor Ian Blair who is the Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Education and Life Sciences, Professor Blair. Thank you Carl. Good afternoon everyone my name as Carl has already said is Professor Ian Blair and I'm Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Education and Life Sciences. I'd like to welcome all our graduates, their families and friends and the university staff to this celebration of your success. Let me start by saying congratulations and well done to each and every one of you. For many of you, you may be in the early stages of your nursing and midwifery careers, for others you may have undertaken a post-qualifying course which has enhanced your professional expertise. Whatever your level of study and chosen career you've really achieved something very special and this needs to be celebrated. I am pleased that you chose Birmingham City University and especially the School of Nursing and Midwifery which aspires to lead nursing and midwifery education. Its mission is to be the first choice for students, apprentices, colleagues and employers within Birmingham across West Midlands, nationally and globally. Would not be anywhere else. That is it, our little virtual graduation is over. Sounds like we're going to have one next year but hopefully there will be a day. We'll see, we'll see. Anyway thanks everyone for tuning in, thanks as always for following my journey and here's to next time.