Erin W.
3/5
Review of Gordon Uni graduation ceremony, Costa Hall - Feb 2025.
The positive- The Hall itself is lovely with well-appointed spaces & a fantastic audio system that wonderful.It has great views from all Visitor seating areas so everyone has a perfect view of their loved one as they walk across the stage & receive their graduation certification. There is a very large projection screen above the stage that wonderfully enlarges the action taking place- ensuring everyone in attendance can clearly see a close-up of the presenter & the student walking across the stage to receive their graduation certificate. For the record, the quality of the projector was clear enough to make out the facial expressions of our loved one! The hall itself was a comfortable temp Visitors are seated in upstairs seating while graduates are seated below & are separated from family & friends throughout the graduation process. This surprised many around us who thought that they could sit with their family members once they had taken their walk across the main stage. While that sounds like a nice option, logistically, it would cause a lot of disruption to the process if everyone tried to find, then sit with, family mid ceremony. We were personally very happy with the program layout.
The ceremony included an introduction, an aboriginal ' welcome to the land', a guest speaker/ former student & several Gordon University officials who spoke & made the time to congratulate the students & their families. While that may sound like a slow & drawn-out experience, it was anything but! The service was well timed, relevant, inclusive & efficient. Each student had the time to walk across the stage, have an official photo taken as they received their graduation certificate & no one seemed rushed OR frustrated with 'a slow pace'! Clearly the Gordon has worked hard to ensure a nearly seamless graduation process . Well done The Gordon!!
The graduation also included finger foods post ceremony & photo ops with staff.
Sadly, when we arrived, we were all ushered very quickly to a staircase to go to the higher landing to sit. While there were several staff directing visitors, we found it difficult to get the attention of one to answer our question about a lift option. As an O2 dependent person, stairs are not my friends. After attempting to ask about disabled services, we found ourselves being ushered towards the stairs- caught up in the crowd. I did make it up- but I certainly slowed the pace down for all coming in behind us ( I'm so sorry everyone!). I had taken my 02 tubing off so we could get family photos & I think as it wasn't immediately clear I was disabled, the hast to get everyone seated on time was the focus- not stopping to answer bothersome questions. I certainly FELT like I was a difficulty to be avoided.I'm still unsure if there even IS an elevator option, if it works or if there are perhaps downstairs seating options for those who can't navigate the stairs. Please call ahead to get those answers if you have a disability& avoid a similar situation. We DID review the facility @the_gordon , thegordon.edu.au info page & saw that there were disability options available prior to booking tickets. We thought we would be set but after photos, we had only a short time to be seated before the ceremony started. In our case, the unexpected physical strain lead to us having to leave within 40 min for medical care. This wasn't the graduation experience we wanted or expected & we missed out on 50% of the experience, which was sad & yes, embarrassing. There was no malicious intent on anyone's behalf. This happened because there wasn't readily available info/ assistance & the atmosphere of hast made us feel that there wasn't enough time to seek answers without creating a delay for all. I didn't want to be ' that person' & so I was left with only 2 choices, miss out or try to manage the stairs. Sadly, They won.
The facility & graduation process was wonderful but the access to disability assistance was not. Preplan to avoid this issue & you'll have a fantastic experience!
