Thursday 25 June 2020
Under the patronage of His Excellency Major General Staff Pilot Rashad Mohamed Al Saadi, Commandant of the National Defence College and following the precautionary measures taken by the UAE to combat the Novel Covid-19, the NDC organized its annual academic graduation ceremony for issuing the Master's Degrees to graduates of the 7th NDC Course 2019-2020 on Thursday 25 June 2020 at the college campus in the presence of wing commanders, faculty members, and a number of college employees.
Upon the arrival of ceremony honor guest, the national anthem of the United Arab Emirates was played, followed by recitation of the Holy Quran.
The NDC Deputy Commandant His Excellency Brigadier General Navy Staff Tariq Al-Zaabi delivered a speech during the ceremony where he expressed his pride and honor in the college and its distinctive and exceptional faculty who worked under the exceptional circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic to push the academic march forward efficiently and competently overcoming all obstacles and difficulties with impressive success. His Excellency pointed out that the participants of the 7th NDC Course has managed to overcome the challenges and proved their ability to overcome this situation successfully. The second challenge of Covid-19 to the educational process was to shift to distance learning and remote work. This challenge has been remarkably met with readiness, quick response and ability to adapt quickly by the participants of this course.
Concluding his speech, His Excellency congratulated the participants, wishing them further progress and urging them towards implementing the security and strategic knowledge and academic input they had acquired in their coming professional life of serving their country.
The College Dean , Dr. Daniel Baltirositis delivered a speech in which he praised the effort made by the 7th NDC Course to achieve such a distinguished academic achievement, and expressed his appreciation of the participants' dedication to pass all the academic requirements under such an unusual global circumstances.
The speech of the College Dean was followed by the graduates speech delivered by one of the graduates on behalf of the course graduates, expressing the pride they feel in benefiting from a this unique experience that they had upon joining one of the most prestigious academic programs that distinguish the college from any other academic programs, appreciating all the efforts made by all NDC Course faculty and admins.
The ceremony was concluded by a issuing the Master's Degree by His Excellency the NDC Commandant to the graduates and launching the 7th Issue of the National Defence Journal. The graduates presented a souvenir to the college leadership expressing their gratitude to the college and its role in preparing and qualifying them to carry out their future duties towards safeguarding their homeland and its national interests.
Following the social distancing rules, a group photo was taken for the graduates with the NDC Commandant.