Graduands in the Faculty of Social Sciences will receive their degrees Thursday at convocation  ceremonies in downtown Hamilton.

The celebrations will be held at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at Hamilton Place and will be livestreamed online.

Former South African finance minister Trevor Manuel will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws at the afternoon convocation.

Manuel, who was named a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum in 1994, spend much of his adolescence in and out of prison before making the transition to federal politics in the late 1980s. He served as finance minister between 1996 and 2009 and worked alongside former president Nelson Mandela for several years.

He currently chairs the country’s national planning commission.