This is graduation time and this afternoon's ceremony recognised students from International Relations. When Inga Jacob's from Pretoria crossed the stage in front of me to receive her PhD for a thesis entitled 'Norms and Transboundary Co-operation in Africa: The Cases of the Orange-Senqu and Nile Rivers'  the now unmistakable sound of a vuvuzela horn could be heard from the serried ranks of relatives. It was her proud father ( a librarian in Capetown) who was happy to recreate the moment in the Quad for me afterwards.

Second year Mediaeval History student Amanda Litherland has been appointed as the new Rector's Assessor.

Hailing from the Isle of Man, Amanda will aid and advise the Rector, Kevin Dunion, until the end of his term in the role in October 2011. She will also be tasked with encouraging students to nominate a wide range of candidates in the next rectorial election. Outside her studies, she has appeared in a number of student theatrical productions including The Tempest.

Amanda replaces James Shield, who has completed his term as Rector's Assessor following a year as Director of Representation at the Students' Association. The appointment was decided following a competitive application process and two rounds of interviews.

Students and societies who are interested in asking the Rector to participate in an event next academic year can contact Amanda via the contact form on this page.

To mark the mid-point of his 3-year term as Rector and the end of the academic year, Cordula Schnuer from the STAR news team sat down with Kevin to talk about the highlights so far and some of the challenges facing the University.

STAR broadcasts 24/7 during term time. Listen online at www.standrewsradio.com.

Click the play button below to play the podcast, or subscribe to Kevin's podcasts on iTunes by clicking here.

Kevin joined two Pixar animators and the BAFTA award winning film maker Robert Sproul-Cran on the judging panel for this year's Half Cut Film Festival. STAR's Uday Pratap Singh took to the red carpet to interview the judges and organisers as well as some of the festival's film makers.

Listen below or find all of the Rector's podcasts on iTunes:

It was particularly pleasing to be asked to 'moderate' the debate on Aid to Africa: is it necessary? between 4 PhD candidates from the School of International Relations.

My own postgraduate research was conducted at the Centre for African Studies in Edinburgh University and I have direct experience of the issue from my work with Oxfam and Friends of the International. A packed audience in the New Arts Building heard speeches and responses which were by turn passionate, reflective, challenging and provocative. Congratulations to Ashley, Gladys, Patrick and Steven.

Got together with the newly elected Students' Association and Athletic Union sabbaticals to hear from them directly about their priorities for next year and to discuss the kinds of issue which I have been involved with as Rector which relates to their roles.

Major items highlighted by Owen and Siena like the Union and Library re-developments and the 600th Anniversary priorities will feature on the University Court agenda. I was pleased to hear from Siena that the work done by her predecessors to bring together class reps will be carried forward; from Alastair about his plans to link societies and careers; and from Andy about his plans to encourage greater recognition of sporting achievement by students and also to promote competitive sporting events to attract spectators. Phil of course has been re-elected on the basis of his successful track record from this year.

My advice to them - hit the ground running on 1 July and focus on their priorities, as their term of office will go by all too quickly.

If you're organising an event, campaigning on an issue or need some advice, remember that the Rector is here to help.

The University Rector, Kevin Dunion, will be in the Main Bar of the Union from 2pm - 3pm this Wednesday 14th April, so feel free to come and have a chat.

Find out more here.

One of my favourite events last year was to be on the judging panel for the Half Cut film Festival so I was delighted when Charlotte Walsh, President of Rogue Productions, and Julz Newton, Vice President, asked me to join the panel for this year's big event which takes place at the New Picture House on 22 April.

The Facebook event can be found here. Details on submissions can be found at the On The Rocks Festival website.

The Sustainable Development Society asked me introduce one of the speakers contributing to their lecture series and I gladly chose to welcome Dr Tony Jackson of Dundee University. I recall Tony as an lively lecturer recently returned from working in Africa whose classes I attended when I studied economics at St Andrews. Our paths crossed again many years later when I worked for Friends of the Earth and Tony by that time had moved to Dundee to set up the environmental management course. So it was a pleasure to be back in School II to hear about his current work on strategic environmental assessment and sustainability appraisal.