The first four face-to-face Diploma ceremonies since lockdown have finally happened, and because of the need to maintain social distancing we tried out a new way of delivery. This was a great success as friends and family sat at tables in either the Prince Philip or Quincentennial Building, where they were served high tea and for those who wanted it, some fizz while the ceremony itself was in the Playfair Hall as usual, but the speeches and presentations were beamed live all over the world! We, the Office Bearers, at the diploma presentation party, were able to go round the tables and meet everyone. The feedback was brilliant, and I personally had a great time meeting so many fantastic people and getting to know them even if it was for such a short time. It is so uplifting to see so many of our new diplomats and their proud families having such a wonderful time in Edinburgh, and the sun shone down on us the whole time.
Unfortunately, we only were able to have one Diplomats dinner but that went off well too, with again a chance to show our new colleagues what a great College we are and what we mean when we say we are the ‘Friendly College’. Let us hope when we start the round of ceremonies in September, we can welcome more of you to come along and join us in these great celebration events.
I was particularly pleased to welcome so many of our dental care professional colleagues receiving their diplomas and having the chance to talk to them about their next career stages and what we can do for them in the College.
Talking of new initiatives, we finally have got permission to launch our new suite of sub specialty diploma exams in a wide range of subjects. We are the first of any of the Dental Colleges to have such a full range of these ready for our General Dental Practice members and they are targeted to show that if you feel you are a dentist with a special interest in any specific subject you can verify that statement with these new diplomas as one of your postnominals. We are the only College who can offer training, assessment and support from your early years post qualification to full specialist level all in one College, your Royal College. The new diplomas are going to be open access so you don’t need to have been on any specific course to enter for the exam but it’s up to you to gather enough learning from wherever you think fit to prepare yourself for the assessment. To help you we are also launching a new system of accreditation for courses of all levels so if you see our logo on a course then you will know it is quality assured and good value for money and educational content.
It is an exciting time to be part of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh family of Dental Surgery.