THERE was great cause for celebration at this semester's Southern Cross University graduation ceremony.

Kingscliff's Alex Brown was one of 106 graduates to walk away with a degree on Saturday.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) and works part time at Broadbeach State School.

Peeranan Wisanskoonwong, a Thai midwife who aims to revolutionise health care for pregnant women in her home country, received a PhD.

Ms Wisanskoonwong, who is a senior midwifery lecturer at Navamindradhiraj University in Bangkok, was one of three PhD graduates at the ceremony.

The dedicated student studied the effect of midwifery primary health care groups on pregnant women to deter early labour, which is a serious issue in Thailand.

"In Thailand, midwifery is practised in a medicalised environment and encompasses working with interventions relying on medical technology, such as electronic foetal monitoring, rather than valuing midwifery practices that are more holistically oriented, such as continuity of care," she said.

"Preterm birth is a serious problem in Thailand and I believe the medicalised approaches to this addresses the symptoms of the problem only, without attending to the woman's real health needs.

"There are no research papers about midwifery practice in Thailand and the midwife's role in the antenatal clinic in preventing preterm births.

"Most of the previous research relates to the use of medication in preterm labour to inhibit preterm birth.

"Therefore, current midwifery practice is based on what medical treatment the woman is receiving."

Two doctorates of business administration graduates also received their awards from SCU's Chancellor John Dowd at a ceremony held at the Tweed Civic Centre.

The occasional speaker was Ian Langdon the chair of the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Services Board.