Pappus' plane

On my graduation application form:

Fields of Specialisation or Majors (where applicable):
Maths

Ho hum....

I was hoping that they wouldn't notice. I'm getting OED withdrawal symptoms already.

UQ alumni get a free year's membership with the library after graduation. I don't technically graduate until December, so I called them up today to see if I could start my free twelve months now. After going through about four people, they called me back and said that yes, and in fact that my twelve months had started on 12 July. I thought that this was odd, but perhaps that's when one of my earlier submissions had been registered on the system, and so I had no further need to look up words in the dictionary.

It occurred to me, about the time I started typing this entry, that they probably misread my Studies Report, on which it gives my conferral date as 2009-12-07. That date, of course, is in year-month-day order. I'll have a chat to them in person when I head into uni this afternoon.

8 September 2009

Dear Mr Barry,

Conferral of Master of Philosophy (MPhil) on 29 August 2009

I am delighted to inform you that the Vice-Chancellor has given executive approval on behalf of The University of Queensland Senate to confer the Master of Philosophy degree upon you as of 29 August 2009. Let me congratulate you on your success in obtaining this distinction!

The attainment of a Doctor of Philosophy degree is a very significant achievement. It affirms your ability to carry out research at a very high level and it attests to a great deal of personal effort on your part and, no doubt, the support and assistance of many others.

The University of Tanya
The University of Bek
The University of Graeme
The University of Kathy
The University of Tanya
The University of Bek
The University of Graeme
The University of Kathy
The University of Tanya
The University of Bek
The University of Graeme
The University of Kathy
The University of Tanya
The University of Bek
The University of Graeme
The University of Kathy
The University of Tanya
The University of Bek
The University of Graeme
The University of Kathy
The University of Tanya
The University of Bek
The University of Graeme
The University of Kathy

I keep watching the animated GIF, waiting for there to be some kind of conclusion.

I gather that's what this short article is saying. The first of the dominoes that Melbourne has made fall? UQ gave serious consideration to switching to the Bologna model after Melbourne announced the change, but in the end stayed with the current system because Masters programmes wouldn't be HECS-liable.