The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has announced it will postpone its summer 2020 graduation ceremonies.

Precautionary action has been taken by the uni to protect students, staff and the general public amid the coronavirus crisis.

Ceremonies will be rescheduled for December.

The Lancashire Science Festival and the Graduate Fashion Show have also been cancelled.

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.

“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.”

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

Additional high profile and popular community events, including the graduate fashion show and the Lancashire Science Festival, have been deferred for a year.

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

Final-year students will be informed of the revised December 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.