THE University for the Creative Arts’ (UCA) class of 2016 have graduated at a series of special ceremonies at Royal Festival Hall.

The new graduates, who came from across UCA’s four campuses in Farnham, Canterbury, Epsom, and Rochester, as well as from the Royal School of Needlework and the Open College of Art, were received and congratulated on stage by the university’s chancellor, Dame Zandra Rhodes.

Addressing the graduates, Dame Zandra, who studied at what is now UCA Rochester, said: “It’s immensely gratifying for me to think that in this hall are the minds that will drive tomorrow’s creative industries.

“You are the minds that will innovate – dreaming the dreams not yet dreamt. You are the minds that will answer the questions not yet posed, and pose the questions not yet answered. You are the minds that will entertain, that will exhilarate, and that will energise generations not yet born. You are the future, and you should be excited by that.”

Also receiving their scrolls were the university’s honorary graduates, with this year’s accolades going to Serpentine Galleries director Dame Julia Peyton-Jones, Arts Council England CEO Darren Henley OBE, and leading design historian Professor Penny Sparke.

UCA has a long history of graduating talented individuals who go on to make waves in their chosen industries, boasting amongst in alumni the likes of Tracey Emin, Karen Millen and Hollywood director Gareth Edwards. More than 90 per cent of UCA graduates are in work within six months of graduating.