New student standards for academic ceremonies
The new standards have been handmade at the Association of Friends of Textile Art in Stockholm using silk embroidery, appliqué and other techniques. Photo: Tobias Sterner/Bildbyrån
Two completely new standards have now taken their place in the students’ combined standards. They replace the standards of the Uppsala Student Union and the Pharmaceutical Student Union, which have previously led the way at University ceremonies. The two new standards were inaugurated at an imposing ceremony in the Grand Auditorium at the beginning of the semester.
Since the abolition of compulsory student union membership in 2010, the number of recognised student unions at the University has increased, while only two standards can be accommodated in the combined standards borne in procession at University ceremonies in the Grand Auditorium. For this reason, it was considered important to produce new standards that can represent all students. In total, the work on the two standards has cost SEK 1.2 million.
“It’s impressive that Uppsala’s students have managed to come together to create these two new yet traditional symbols of a united student life. I hope that the two Uppsala students’ standards will contribute to the dignified representation of all students at University ceremonies and inspire more joint student endeavours in the future,” says Filip Dumanski, former Curator Curatorum (head of the Curators Committee, the student nations’ cooperation body), who participated in the project.
The larger of the two standards is virtually identical to the original Storan or Great Standard of 1852. Photo: Tobias Sterner/Bildbyrån
The new standards have been handmade at the Association of Friends of Textile Art in Stockholm using silk embroidery, appliqué and other techniques. The larger of the two standards is virtually identical to the original Storan or Great Standard of 1852. The new Storan’s pole is crowned by a gilded owl, recreated from the original using 3D technology.
The smaller standard Lillan is adorned with an oak tree, making it different from its predecessor, which had the Norse god Odin as its motif.
The smaller standard Lillan is adorned with an oak tree. Photo: Tobias Sterner/Bildbyrån
“It is gratifying that the original Great Standard has been so magnificently recreated as a representation of all the University’s students, and that at the same time the various student unions have agreed to be jointly represented in the combined standards by a newly created ‘Little Standard’,” says Per Ström, Academy Steward and Master of Ceremonies at academic ceremonies.
Åsa Malmberg