The end of studies and academic success celebrated
Last week was the very last week of the academic year at Halmstad University, and like every year, it was a week packed with many activities to celebrate the students who finished their studies. On the agenda was everything from the graduation fair Utexpo and scholarship awards to the graduation ceremony at Halmstad Arena.
We are proud of you and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to be a part of your lives and help you reach graduation.
Susanna Öhman, Vice-Chancellor
During the graduation week, the University’s graduating students are recognised and celebrated in many ways. A recurring event is the graduation fair Utexpo where hundreds of students present their graduation projects to clients, supervisors, the industry and the public. Scholarships are also awarded to a number of graduation projects.
Utexpo gathered students, clients and those interested from the public, amongst others, in the University Hall.
“It feels great that it paid off”
This year’s Utexpo was held in the University Hall on Wednesday. One of the companies on site was Getinge Sterilization AB, which is one of the University’s strategic collaboration partners. The company awarded scholarships for outstanding graduation projects in the field of health innovation.
“Utexpo is exciting for us as an employer. We have employed many engineers from the University, so it feels important to keep up with developments and pay attention to students who are producing excellent graduation projects within the area we work – health innovation”, said Niclas Jonasson, CEO of Getinge Sterilization AB, when he handed out no less than four scholarships.
Two of the students who exhibited their project at Utexpo were Alhusein Al Rfeidan and Esmatalla Nabizadeh. They both received a scholarship for the best graduation project at the programme Sustainable Energy Engineer.
“When we found out that we had received the scholarship, it felt completely unreal. We didn’t think we would receive it. It’s so great that all our work paid off”, said Alhusein Al Rfeidan and Esmatalla Nabizadeh agreed.
Alhusein Al Rfeidan and Esmatalla Nabizadeh from the Sustainable Energy Engineering programme were two of the many scholarship recipients during the week.
Scholarship and celebrations in the classes
In addition to the scholarships at Utexpo, a number of other scholarships were also handed out. These included scholarships from Sten Fåhré’s Foundation, the mathematics scholarship In memory of Georgi and the Swedish Association of Health Professionals’ scholarship for the best graduation project in the Nursing Programme.
New for this year was the Göran Sidén Scholarship for Renewable Energy, which is awarded to students at the programme Sustainable Energy Engineer as a special reward for completed studies.
Most programmes had programme degree assemblies to celebrate with the class, and for some of the programmes scholarships and awards were also handed out there. For the programmes Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, Sustainable Design and Innovation this year’s graduation was particularly special as the very first cohort of graduating students was celebrated.
Over a thousand students took their seats on the floor at Halmstad Arena and took part in the ceremony led by Halmstad Student Union’s presidium.
The graduation ceremony brought the week to a close
The week was rounded off on Thursday with the joint graduation ceremony where over a thousand students gathered in Halmstad Arena together with guests and staff from the University. The atmosphere was powerful when the happy students took their seats in the arena and were treated to entertainment, speeches and granting of awards.
Vice-Chancellor Susanna Öhman thanked the students for their years at the University:
“I hope that you will always carry with you bright and pleasant memories from your time here and are proud to have been a student at Halmstad University. A really big congratulations from us at the University. We are proud of you and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to be a part of your lives and help you reach graduation.”
Alex Elfstrand, Leah Bernitzky, Malin Jensen and Cynthia Jon-Onwubuoya were awarded Student of the Year 2025.
During the ceremony, the Alumnus/Alumna of the Year award was as usual presented to a former student who has distinguished himself or herself in his or her career and is a positive role model for the University and the students. This year, the award was given to Martina Aronsson, who is the head coach of the Swedish national swimming team.
The Student of the Year award was also handed out to one student at each School, for good efforts during their studies. This year’s recipients were Cynthia Jon-Onwubuoya, from the School of Information Technology, Alex Elfstrand from the School of Business, Innovation and Sustainability, Leah Bernitzky from the School of Health and Welfare and Malin Jensen from the School of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences.
“This award is proof that hard work pays off. Thank you to everyone who nominated me and thank you to Halmstad University”, said Cynthia Jon-Onwubuoya.
Text: Thimmy Mård
Photo: Helena Bengtsson, Dan Bergmark
