The Convocation Ceremony Convocation is the most solemn ceremony within the University community. Since their beginnings in the Middle Ages, universities have performed this ceremony in order to grant degrees to their students and also to welcome those students into the community of scholars which has trained them. The conferring of the degrees takes place at the moment when the student places his or her hands within those of the Chancellor, the President, or the Vice-President: Academic or other conferring officers of the University, and the officer says "I admit you." As an outward sign of his or her new state, the student is hooded by a member of faculty. Each degree within a university has a hood of unique colours and trim in order that the student's status may be recognized--indeed every university guards its own set of hoods from use by any other university. In order to recognize the nature of this event for the students involved, the University asks that parents and friends of the students participating in this ceremony withhold their applause until all members being admitted to each degree have left the dais. The Academic Degrees The academic degree is a title conferred on an individual by a university as recognition of the completion of a course of study or for a certain attainment. In Canada the three stages in higher education are represented by the degrees of bachelor, master, and doctor. Wilfrid Laurier University is given the authority to grant degrees by the Wilfrid Laurier University Act. Historically, the master's degree was the only degree offered. In the Middle Ages it was awarded to those scholars who, after a series of examinations, were found intellectually and morally fit to teach. Although we are accustomed to thinking of the bachelor's degree as the original degree, it was initially used to designate master's students progressing toward their final degree. They were thus novices or 'bachelors,' who were given permission to teach beginning students. The bachelor's degree was subsequently established as a first degree, a position it had when Oxford University in England was founded in the twelfth century. The degree of doctor, which comes from the Latin word for 'teacher,' was first awarded by the University of Bologna and the University of Paris in the twelfth century. The bachelor's degree is awarded at the honours and general level. An honours degree program emphasizes the acquisition of a broad and deep knowledge of the student's chosen honours subject,including both skill at applying the subject and appreciation of its relation to general knowledge and society. A general degree program emphasizes a balance between an in-depth understanding of the student's major subject and a knowledge and appreciation of other fields. Completion of an honours degree normally takes four years and a general degree three years. The master's degree is the second degree in higher education. Students complete concentrated and specialized work at a more advanced level in an academic discipline or professional area. Most course work is within the field of specialization and a research project or thesis is normally required. Some master's degrees provide professional qualifications. The master's degree usually requires one or two years of study after a bachelor's degree. The doctoral degree is the highest academic degree granted by a university. Candidates for the degree spend several years in the advanced study of a specialized field of knowledge. The capstone of the degree is the doctoral dissertation, an extended work based upon independent research. The dissertation demonstrates the candidate's command of both the subject matter and the exacting methods of scholarship, and makes an original contribution to knowledge. Wilfrid Laurier University Mace The mace of Wilfrid Laurier University was officially presented by the Euler family at the 1963 Fall Convocation in memory of the Honourable W.D. Euler, Senator and the first Chancellor of the University. It weighs sixteen pounds and was manufactured by the firm of Henry Birks Limited, Montreal. The ferrule near the base of the shaft contains ivory from a walrus tusk obtained from Coral Harbour, North West Territories. The ten-sided shaft, representing the ten provinces, merges into the head of the mace which bears the ten provincial crests. The wood used at the point where the shaft meets the head of the mace is elm taken from the bannister post of Conrad Hall, the original Seminary Building. Above this are four crests relating to the history of the Institution: a crest of Waterloo County, the Luther Coat of Arms, the crest of the Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, and the coat of Arms of the University of Western Ontario. The head of the mace is made of maple and bears the Federal Coat of Arms, above which is the monogram of Queen Elizabeth II, during whose reign the University's Charter was granted. On the reverse side is the crest of Wilfrid Laurier University and the monogram of King George V during whose reign the original charter was granted. The top of the mace is a crown, mounted with jewels, symbolizing the authority of the State.