The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has postponed its summer graduation ceremonies amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The ceremonies that were due to take place in July have now been rescheduled for December when winter graduation will be extended to a two-week celebration.

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Other popular university events, including the graduate fashion show and the Lancashire Science Festival, have been deferred for a year.

This news comes for students as they enter their second full week of online teaching.

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The University has pledged that, subject to the lifting of Government restrictions, both events will return in the summer of 2021.

Commenting on the decision Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Baldwin said: “These large-scale events represent the culmination of everything our students have achieved and in the case of the Lancashire Science Festival we also welcome many thousands of visitors from across our local community.

“Therefore, postponing these events was not an easy decision nor was it taken lightly. Any disappointment is entirely understandable, but we have done it to protect the safety and wellbeing of our graduates, guests, staff and indeed the whole of our stakeholder community.

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“Our hope is that by announcing this news as early as possible, those who need to change travel or accommodation plans will still have time to do so.”

Final-year students will be informed of the revised December 2020 graduation dates once they have been confirmed in the near future.

The University is now focusing on the processes required to ensure all its students formally graduate on time in July and while this will not be at a ceremony, results will be published as normal.