You will need to complete the graduation registration form (online) linked in the invitation email from us.

Graduation registration for January ceremonies usually opens mid-late November, with registration for July ceremonies usually opening during May/early June.

Guests are not required to be smartly dressed. However, as it is a formal event most guests do prefer to be appropriately dressed for the occasion (e.g. collar and tie).

Yes. If you are eligible to graduate at the next ceremonies, you MUST register even if you do not want to attend the ceremony or you are planning to defer to attend a future ceremony. If deferring, you need to opt out of the first available ceremonies. This means that we can transfer your details to your chosen future ceremony. If you do not do this, you will graduate in absentia, by default, at the first available ceremonies at which you are eligible to graduate - you would not be permitted to defer your graduation after the registration deadline. You should also register to let us know if you are not attending the ceremony and wish to graduate in absentia in order to confirm your address, otherwise we will not be able to post your certificate to you after the ceremonies.

We also gather further information relating to the use of your personal information by the University, so it is necessary for you to complete graduation registration.

You should not wait for your results before registering for graduation. It is usual practice to invite students to the ceremony before results are known, given various time constraints. If it transpires that you are not eligible to graduate, your name will not appear on our graduation lists for the day and you will be notified that your graduation registration has been cancelled. You would then be invited to register again for the next ceremonies we expect you to be eligible for (if applicable).

Please also ensure that you register by the deadline given.

While a lot of effort goes into capacity planning when creating the schedule of ceremonies, the venue for graduation ceremonies has a maximum capacity so not all graduands are guaranteed a place. Places are booked on a first-come, first-served basis so we strongly advise you to complete graduation registration as early as possible to avoid disappointment. In the event your ceremony reaches full capacity and you are unable to secure a place, you will be added to a waiting list for your ceremony and also offered a space in another ceremony, usually on the same day.

When you register online, you can choose to attend the ceremony, graduate in absentia (i.e. not attend), or defer your graduation with the intention to attend a future ceremony within the year. If you have already deferred graduation previously, you will NOT be given the option to defer again.

Depending on your choices, you will need to complete the details on the screens presented to you as you work through the form.

As long as you complete registration by the deadline, your certificate will be posted out to you 2-4 weeks after the ceremonies finish (if you have provided your address), by our normal postal method (i.e. Second Class post for UK and Airmail for overseas addresses). If you have requested the option of delivery by courier, a payment of £20.00 for UK, or £40.00 for overseas addresses is required - courier requests (paid for) will be posted within 1-2 weeks after the ceremonies. You can also opt to have your certificate held for collection at the Student Information Centre in Senate House. Read more about award certificates.

You will not be eligible to attend a future ceremony if you choose to graduate in absentia.

Yes, everybody graduating will need to wear full Academic Robes (read more). You will need to hire robes in advance of the date. Robes must be ordered from our provider, Ede and Ravenscroft.

You will not be able to graduate unless you are wearing the correct Warwick robes from Ede and Ravenscroft.

A gown, hood and hat will need to be worn during the ceremony.

If you choose to defer your graduation, you will still need to register, otherwise you will automatically graduate in absentia. You can choose to defer to the next set of ceremonies or the ones after that i.e. for up to a year. You will then be invited to register again once registration opens for the ceremonies you have chosen to defer to. Please note that if you defer your graduation you will NOT receive your hard copy certificate until the ceremony you are attending. Your digital certificate will be issued earlier.

You can change your details by re-accessing the online registration process, anytime up until the registration deadline. After the deadline, it depends how close we are to the event as to what options are still available to you, but you should contact us as soon as you know you cannot attend to discuss what options you have at that time. We regret that we cannot guarantee that we are able to change registration requests received after the registration deadline.

You should order your robe at least two weeks prior to the start of the Degree Congregation.

You need to order your robes online, well in advance of the ceremony, from our robe providers.

Gowns can either be hired for the day or purchased if you prefer. You will need to know the date and time of your ceremony, your qualification (eg PhD, MEng, BA, FdA, etc) and your height, chest and hat size to order your robe - please have this information to hand when you order.

We can only guarantee two free Guest Tickets for entrance to the ceremony. Guest tickets are not posted - they are collected on the day of your graduation in the same venue as your robes. Guest tickets can only be collected by the relevant graduand.

Your name will be crossed off the list of names to be called out and your degree will be awarded in absentia instead.

You will not be permitted to attend a future ceremony.

Your certificate will be posted to you after the ceremonies, if you have provided your address (please allow up to 8 weeks for delivery). Read more about award certificates.

If you have paid for hire of robes, and ordered photos etc, you may be able to request refunds of these direct from the various companies – please contact them promptly to arrange refunds.

Due to seating capacity and the number of attending graduands there is always a limit on the number of guests tickets we can allocate for the ceremony itself, but we do hope that they will be able to enjoy and celebrate the rest of the day with you. You can purchase additional guest tickets for a guaranteed seat in a Warwick Arts Centre cinema.

Guests are also able to watch the ceremonies on the Piazza on the big screen which is situated outdoors, next to Rootes building. Alternatively, the ceremonies are live streamed, allowing family and friends to watch from the comfort of home, or anywhere with a mobile device connected to the internet.

Footage of the ceremonies will also be available to download following the ceremonies. Further details are available on our Souvenirs page.

The University normally holds ceremonies twice a year, in January and July.

The January ceremonies are usually held in the penultimate full week in January.

The July ceremonies are usually held during the third and fourth weeks after the end of the summer term, not including the weekend.

Undergraduates and postgraduates, receiving an award of degree level and above, can choose to attend the first ceremonies after award, or defer to the next set of summer or winter ceremonies (up to one year).

Click on the appropriate ‘Register’ button on the Registration and Eligiblity page. You will then either need to log in using your ITS login details or will be taken a login page where you will be asked to give your student ID number (7 digits) and request a password to access graduation registration.

Not necessarily. Due to the proximity of examination boards to the ceremonies it is usual to send out graduation invitations BEFORE results are known.

We look at your student record to check if you are potentially due to graduate (by looking at your expected end date) and we contact students based on this and other information.

To be eligible to graduate you must have cleared all your debts and your name must appear on a Senate or Steering Committee approved pass list by the deadlines stated. Please check the Eligibility Criteria.

Graduand and up to two guest tickets are free or charge for our Degree Congregations held in the Butterworth Hall. Graduands have the option to pay for additional guest tickets for a guaranteed seat in a Warwick Arts Centre Cinema - see the next question for more details.

A brief description of the colours is available in our Robe and Hood Colours section.

Guest tickets for entrance to the ceremony are not numbered and stewards will direct your guests to seats inside the Butterworth Hall. Guests who wish to sit together should enter the hall together. Wherever possible we will make every effort to seat all members of the same party together, however, guests are equally welcome to sit separately from other members of your party if they wish. Guests wishing to sit separately, should enter separately. Please read our Guests page for further details.

Departments and their courses are assigned to a particular ceremony date and time, and you will be invited to the relevant ceremony for your course. The schedule of ceremonies is normally published by February for July ceremonies, and by August for the January ceremonies. Joint courses will be assigned to the ceremony at which the lead administrative department with responsibility for the joint course is allocated. If you are unsure, please contact us to confirm which ceremony you will be invited to. You are only able to attend the ceremony you have been invited to.

There are usually two ceremonies held each day, one at 11.00 and one at 15.00.

Extra guest tickets, guaranteeing a seat in a Warwick Arts Centre cinema, will be sold via Warwick Arts Centre. Extra guest tickets cost £10 per person and are subject to Warwick Arts Centre’s Terms and Conditions. For on sale dates, please see our Guest Tickets webpage. The quantity of extra guest tickets available for each ceremony may be increased from time to time. Extra guest tickets can only be collected by graduands on the day of the ceremony they are attending, with the name of the graduand collecting the tickets to be entered at the point of booking. In the event there are spare seats within the ceremony venue, pre-purchased cinema tickets will be upgraded to Butterworth Hall tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis on the day, up to a maximum of two tickets per graduand. Remaining extra guest ticket holders will be issued a ticket for a Warwick Arts Centre cinema.

You must have cleared all of your study related debts with the University (it is your responsibility to do this), and your name must appear on a Senate or Steering Committee approved pass list/decision record log by the deadlines published in the Eligibility Criteria.

University regulations stipulate that a qualification cannot be awarded/conferred on any student who has study related debts outstanding to the University (including library charges). All study related debts must be cleared by the date published in the Eligibility Criteria in order to graduate. Payment by Flywire is recommended to avoid delays. Payments made by BACS or cheque are subject to a clearance period of 10 working days. If you are unsure, you can check your account balance through your Student Record Online account). If you no longer have access to your Student Record Online account you can also contact the Student Finance team at studentcollections@warwick.ac.uk.

Due to the proximity of some Boards of Examiners meetings in relation to the deadline for receipt of pass lists and online registration, it is usually necessary for the Awards and Ceremonies Team to invite students BEFORE results are known. Receipt of any graduation email invite DOES NOT, therefore, imply successful completion of your studies and you must ensure that you meet the above criteria in order to graduate. If you are unsure of the date that your Examination Board is sitting, then please contact your departmental secretary, as the Awards and Ceremonies Team does not have a full list of Examination Board dates that are due to take place within the available time.

The qualifications of Diploma, Certificate and Award are NOT awarded at a Graduation Ceremony and so certificates for these qualifications are distributed to recipients by mail by the Awards and Ceremonies team as soon as possible after they have been approved by University Senate or Steering Committee. Read more about Award Certificates.

There are various reasons why you may not have access to the online form.

It could simply be that we are not yet aware of your potential eligibility to graduate and will therefore not have contacted you yet or created your graduation record (which enables you to access the online form).

If you haven’t received details or cannot access the online form and you believe that you are/will be eligible to graduate, you should contact us so we can follow this up.

Since March 2018, we have been assured by the Home Office UKVI Policy Team that the Border Force officers have been briefed that attending your graduation ceremony is a permitted activity for students who have completed their course successfully, hold a valid Warwick Student Visa (previously Tier 4) and wish to return to the UK for the purpose of attending their graduation ceremony. If you fall into this category you no longer need to apply for a Standard Visitor visa (although you can if you wish to). However, please note that the Border Force officials retain the right to establish that you are genuinely coming back to the UK to do what you said you would, and so it is important that you have sufficient evidence in your hand luggage in case you are asked (for example, an email sent from the Awards and Ceremonies Team confirming your registration; an email from professional services or your academic department confirming you have passed your degree; a return ticket to your home country after the graduation ceremony etc).

For your guests, they would normally require a ‘Standard Visitor Visa’. The University cannot provide invitation letters for your family or friends but you can write a letter inviting each of your guests to your ceremony - check the Standard Visitor webpageLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window to download a 'sample invitation letter' for them to use in their visa application.

If you do not have a valid Warwick Student Visa (previously Tier 4), you should apply for a ‘Standard Visitor Visa’. To do so you should obtain a Student Status letter, and include in your visa application a print-out of the email from the Awards and Ceremonies Team which confirms that you have been invited to attend the graduation ceremony, and a print-out of the email from professional services/your academic department confirming that you have passed your degree. Please refer to this webpageLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window for more information as to what other documents you may need for this visa application.

If you require further visa related advice, please contact the Student Immigration & Compliance team directly using their online formLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.

Please inform us if any of your guests are wheelchair users or if they require other accessible seating arrangements in the Hall when you complete graduation registration, otherwise we cannot guarantee we will be able to support their needs on the day as space is limited. If circumstances change and you no longer, or now do, require alternative seating requirements for your guests after registration has closed, please let us know as soon as possible.

If you are an undergraduate student expecting to graduate at the July ceremonies, you should receive details in late May/early June. Postgraduate students graduating during the summer may receive their email shortly thereafter.

If you are expecting to graduate at the January ceremonies, we will contact you from mid-late November onwards.

Please make sure you keep your contact details up to date on your Student Records Online as well as informing your department in order to ensure information regarding your graduation is sent to the correct place. If you think you may no longer have access to your Warwick email by the time you will receive an invite, please ensure your personal email address is updated on your record.

You will need to collect your robes on the day of your graduation, prior to your ceremony, from the ticketing and robing area. There will be staff on hand to guide you if you are unsure where this is.

Subject to availability, Warwick Conferences offer Bed & Breakfast options which you may be interested in.

No. If you cannot make the date and time of the ceremony that your course is assigned to, you have the option to defer your graduation ceremony to a future set of ceremonies (although you cannot defer beyond one year), or, you can choose to graduate in absentia and receive your certificate in the post/request that it is held for collection from the Student Information Centre. You are not able to attend an alternative ceremony within the Degree Congregation.

Postgraduate students will receive an email to confirm the conferral of their award after approval, although this will be sent out usually 1-3 weeks after Senate approval has taken place.

Undergraduate results from May/June Examination Boards, will be made available via tabula on an agreed finalist release date for all undergraduate students, shortly after the Examination Board has met.

Taught postgraduate students may be contacted shortly after the Examination Board has met by their department to confirm the outcome of the Examination Board decision. It would be reasonable to assume that if your department has contacted you to confirm the Examination Board decision (subject to Senate approval) which confirms the recommendation of a degree level award, and, they have sent the pass list/decision record log to Student Administrative Services for approval BEFORE the Pass List deadline, then you should be eligible to graduate (providing you have no debts outstanding to the University).

For research degrees, your name will not be presented on a pass list until the Doctoral College is in receipt of all documentation, including both External and Internal Examiners' reports, usually after the viva has taken place and any corrections have been submitted and signed off by the Internal Examiner. This also includes receipt of your bound copies for the library. If you are unsure if you will complete in time, please seek advice from the doctoralcollege@warwick.ac.uk before booking any arrangements for your ceremony.

You will not be able to graduate and attend that ceremony if your award has not been approved by Senate, if you are in debt to the University or if you are not awarded a degree level award.

The Awards and Ceremonies Team will not action your registration request and your name will not appear in the graduation proceedings. You will be notified that your registration has been cancelled.

If you have successfully completed your studies but are in debt to the University, you will be invited to the next available ceremonies after you have cleared your debt.

If you have not completed your studies or your award has not been approved by Senate/Steering in time, you will be invited to attend the next available ceremonies, after you have successfully completed at degree level.

If you have been awarded a sub-degree qualification such as a Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate/Award then you will not be able to attend a ceremony and your certificate will be issued and posted to your address, approximately 6-10 weeks after the ceremonies

If you are travelling from outside of the UK, check the latest UK government rules and guidanceLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window for arriving in England from another country.

University regulations currently state that all graduands must be smartly dressed (e.g. collar and tie).

Members of the armed forces may wear the appropriate uniform and members of religious orders their normal mode of dress.

Graduands may also wear their national dress.

Stewards will be checking that graduands are smartly dressed. Any graduands whose clothes are considered unsuitable (e.g. jeans/trainers) will be excluded from the ceremony (read more).

TIP: Although the hood is secured with velcro to your gown, it may also be useful to bring pins or safety pins so you can secure your hood at the shoulders so it does not slip back or slide off your shoulders. You may also wish to bring hair grips to help secure your hat.

We do not post tickets in advance. Tickets may only be collected in person on the day of your ceremony. Please refer to the timetable for the day for collection details.

You will collect your ticket and guest tickets (including any paid for extra tickets purchased via Warwick Arts Centre) in the ticketing and robing area on the day. Please ensure that you give the tickets to your guests before you separate from them to join the graduand entrance queue on the day, as your guests will need to enter through a separate door and will not be allowed to enter the ceremony without the tickets. You must keep your own ticket with you at all times because you will need your ticket in order to enter the hall and it has your seat number on it (read more).