Graduation Ceremonies
I am a current student; can I sign up for a degree day?
Undergraduates and postgraduate taught students who complete their course and receive their examination results after June 2025 will be assigned a date for their degree ceremony, and will receive an email from the University’s Degree Conferrals Office in the Michaelmas Term of their final year inviting them to book their place on a degree ceremony. For example, if your course finishes in June, July or September 2025, you will be emailed by the University on Monday 25 November 2024 informing you of how you should book onto a degree ceremony. The actual booking window will open for St Edmund Hall students at 2pm on Tuesday 26 November for you to be able to book your degree ceremony, which will be in 2025 or 2026. You will need to book your degree ceremony through your Student Self-service record. The booking window closes at 23:59 on Friday 31 January 2025. Once the booking system has closed, any current students who have not made a booking will be treated as historic as far as the booking process is concerned (see below).
Research students will be offered dates for their degree ceremony once they have been granted leave to supplicate.
What degree ceremony dates are available?
Please see Degree Ceremony Dates for availability
The University has given the College a set quota for each graduation ceremony. You will see that ceremony dates are dependent on the degree to be conferred. Candidates in their final year of study will have from Michaelmas Term of their final year (when the booking window opens in November) to the end of the following January to book their place via an online booking system (see above). After the January deadline, current students lose booking priority because any unaccepted places then also become available to historic graduands to book. Candidates do not need to wait for their exam results to be published before booking their place. Current students can choose to attend a ceremony, or confer their degree in absentia on the online booking system.
Research students and students who receive an invitation to book only on being granted LTS (BTh, those on modular courses, etc) will still be able to book on up to 30 days before a ceremony.
I am a historic graduand; can I sign up for a degree day?
If you finished your degree before June 2025 then you are classed as a ‘historic’ graduand. Please contact college.office@seh.ox.ac.uk to enquire as to whether we have any spaces for ceremonies in the current cycle (ceremonies up to 8 March 2025).
For the next ceremony cycle (July 2025 – May 2026), the degree ceremony booking process is more unpredictable for historic graduands (which includes candidates wishing to confer MAs in person). Current students can book their place from Michaelmas Term of their final year until the end of the following January. After the January deadline any places that have not been accepted by current students also become available to historic graduands accross the University. Therefore, if you are a historic graduand and wish to attend a ceremony in July 2025 – May 2026 then you will need to apply for your name to be put on a holding list for one of the ceremony dates on the Degree Ceremony Dates page by filling in an application form. Please contact college.office@seh.ox.ac.uk for an application form. On receipt of the application form, your name will be entered on to the holding list. However, adding your name to the holding list does not guarantee you a place but puts your name on a waiting list. Places are allocated to historic graduands by the University’s Degree Conferrals Office. You will be notified by the Degree Conferrals Office and the College’s Dean of Degrees’ Secretary if you are successful in gaining a place on your preferred date. If there is no space on your preferred holding list date then you would be contacted to choose an alternative holding list date, and the same process would apply.
However, should you wish to confer your degree (or an MA) in absentia please contact college.office@seh.ox.ac.uk for an Application Form. Bookings for degrees to be taken in absentia must be received no later than 30 days before a ceremony is due to take place.
How many guest tickets am I allowed for the ceremony, what do I need to wear, and is there a celebration in College after the ceremony?
About a month before the ceremony is due to take place, all candidates due to attend will be emailed Practical Procedures information which will include a timetable for the day, information about the correct academic dress to be hired and the in-college celebrations taking place.
Two guest tickets per candidate will be issued for the ceremony. Candidates can request more ceremony tickets by contacting college.office@seh.ox.ac.uk if they want to be put on a waiting list to be considered for extra tickets. However, we cannot guarantee that spare tickets will be available. Very few (sometimes only 1 or 2), if any, become available, so candidates should not assume that they will get extra tickets. The College will only know how many (if any) spare ceremony tickets are available once the tickets are physically received from the Degree Conferrals Office approximately a week or so before the ceremony is due to take place. Any spare tickets will be reallocated on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the date that the candidate made their request known to the College Office according to the waiting list held. Candidates will be informed by the College if they have successfully been allocated any additional tickets.
For the 2 August 2025 ceremony, the College can only permit up to two guests (in addition to the degree candidate) to the drinks reception in college after the degree ceremony, due to catering arrangements and space. For all other ceremonies, the College can permit up to three guests to the drinks reception. We understand this may be disappointing but unfortunately these are the numbers the College has to work with.
However, should you be successful in gaining extra ceremony tickets, you will also be able to bring an equal number of guests to the drinks reception in College.
How will I receive my degree certificate?
Degree certificates are only issued once you have gone through a degree ceremony (either in person or in absentia). Candidates attending a ceremony will receive their certificate from the Dean of Degrees on the day of the ceremony. Candidates taking their degree in absentia will be sent their certificate by post after the ceremony has taken place.
Information about degree certificates and degree confirmation letters (if you have not conferred your degree at a ceremony) can be found via the University’s Degree Certificates, eDocuments and eDocuments Help and FAQs webpages.
Change of details
Current students will be able to change their details, cancel, re-book, or choose to go through in absentia up to 60 days before the ceremony is due to take place. The booking system will close 30 days before each ceremony.
If you are a historic graduand, please inform the Dean of Degrees’ Secretary (college.office@seh.ox.ac.uk) of any changes to your postal address, email address or any other details from those you initially stated on your application form.
Can I cancel a degree ceremony booking?
Current students can cancel their degree ceremony booking up to 60 days before the ceremony. Current students who decline their place more than 60 days before their original ceremony will then become ‘historic’ graduands in the system and would need to apply through the College to be added to a holding list date (please see the section above for ‘historic’ graduands).
Cancellations less than 60 days before a candidate’s degree ceremony date will result in the candidate being presented ‘in absentia’ on the original date, unless their cancellation is due to exceptional circumstances.
For further information about degree ceremonies, please contact the Dean of Degrees Secretary on 01865 279010 or college.office@seh.ox.ac.uk.
Graduands, guests and staff attending should be aware that graduation ceremonies are regarded as public events. Names, colleges and degrees of graduands are published in the graduation programme. Audio and visual images of the ceremony are publicly available via the sale of personalised videos of the ceremony.