On behalf of a current Royal Holloway students who are to graduate this winter, LET BOTH PARENTS OR TWO GUESTS WATCH THE CEREMONY LIVE! It has just come to our attention that we are only allowed one guest to actually watch the ceremony whilst the other must watch from a live screen. Whilst we can appreciate that some precautions are necessary given the current number of COVID-19 cases, after the year we have had all we want is for both parents to be able to watch us graduate. Indeed, at this point, the majority of those in the country are likely to have received 2 vaccination doses, with a substantial proportion even having had their booster by December. Given that universities across the country (Royal Holloway included) have allowed freshers week and student events to continue such as clubbing/student nights whilst several universities across the country have carried out graduation ceremonies as normal, these decisions made by Royal Holloway about the winter Graduation are appalling. Furthermore many Holloway students have still not even had their undergraduate graduation, whereas so many other universities have carried out these ceremonies as normal. Many students will also have parents travelling from abroad to watch the service. Travelling from another country for multiple hours only to watch your child graduate through a screen must be awful. Speaking to current students, some have even said they would prefer to have no graduation at all than to only be allowed one guest to watch live and not having the family around them to support them, who have been the ones there supporting them all year. As you can imagine myself and the many other students are extremely upset and outraged with this decision, especially after the challenging year we have just had!