UHI Inverness graduates: Mother and daughter celebrate graduation together
A mother and daughter from Inverness celebrated a unique family milestone when they graduated side by side from UHI Inverness.
Margaret Burgess Aburn and her daughter, Alix Aburn, shared a proud moment as they crossed the stage together at the graduation ceremony on Friday.
For 55-year-old Margaret, graduation was the culmination of a long-held dream. After leaving school in 1987, life took her in many directions - including two decades working in the NHS and a period living in Australia - before pursuing a BA (Hons) Culture and Heritage with Gaelic Studies at UHI Inverness.
“The lecturers were very much engaged with the students, and I felt they really cared about us,” said Margaret. “There is certainly an additional confidence from having completed a degree. I always felt that I’d missed out by not attending university when I left secondary school. Proving to myself that I was capable of finishing a degree course was hugely motivational.”
Margaret added that studying alongside her daughter had been “a great source of motivation and support.”
That shared support has now led Margaret to her next project - a book about her father, Pipe Major John D. Burgess, one of Scotland’s most renowned pipers.
A tune composed in his honour was performed by UHI Gaelic Officer DJ MacIntyre during the graduation ceremony on Friday.
Encouraged by her dissertation supervisor, who told her she had a book in her, Margaret is now putting her new skills to work chronicling the remarkable life of her father, who famously won two Highland Society of London Gold Medals at just 16 and went on to a successful piping career.
Her daughter Alix, 23, graduated with a BA (Hons) Gaelic Scotland, having been educated through Gaelic since the age of five.
“Throughout the course of my degree my mother and I have encouraged each other to do our best and been a support in the harder times,” she said. “She has always been a source of motivation in my life and that continued as we took classes together.
“I am grateful that I got to experience this journey with my Mam, and I am proud of both of our achievements.”
Alix is now preparing to start a part-time role teaching Gaelic to adult learners and hopes to pursue a career in Gaelic media. She said she chose UHI Inverness because of its strong cultural roots and the opportunity to learn from a wide range of Gaelic specialists.
Their shared success was part of a wider celebration at UHI Inverness, where graduates from across disciplines marked the end of their hard work.
UHI Inverness Principal & Chief Executive Chris O’Neil praised the resilience of students who began their studies amid the pandemic
Also present was Paralympian cyclist Fin Graham MBE, who urged graduates to pursue what truly matters to them: “chase the things that light you up, the ideas that keep you awake at night, the challenges that make you want to grow.”