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University of Birmingham Brings Graduation Ceremonies to the World
News Release - 17 March 2011
Graduation is one of the most important dates in a student’s calendar. It’s a time to celebrate the years of hard work and studying with family and friends. The University of Birmingham enrols thousands of students from all different backgrounds every year, with an increasing amount of international students choosing to study in the UK.
With seating limited at the ceremonies and many students’ family members unable to make the trip to attend, The University of Birmingham turned to Garland Partners Limited (GPL) to provide a first-class solution: allow family and friends to watch the ceremony from wherever they were in the world as the graduation streamed live on the university’s website.
Working with GPL to stream coverage of the graduations while they were in progress, the University placed multiple cameras around the graduation hall. These camera feeds were mixed and output to a portable streaming encoder supplied by GPL. This process encoded the single video/audio feed (500Kbps in H264 flash) where it was immediately streamed to the university’s website. Visitors could watch from their own computers and not miss a minute of the celebrations.
The live web feed proved a hit with everyone. “Over three days, we were able to stream all seven of our graduation ceremonies,” said Mark Ray, Studio and Production Manager of the University of Birmingham. “Our website had over 13,000 hits from more than 81 countries. It is exciting to know we can share these kinds of events with all who should be part of them.”
“We were able to provide the university with an easy-to-use, cost-effective way to bring people together from all over the world,” said Lorna Garrett, Director of Garland Partners. “Live streaming is a solution that works for a host of similar issues faced by those in education, whose needs increasingly need to transcend borders as well as time zones.”
Photo courtesy of the University of Birmingham.
