Graduation

Graduation Ceremonies are co-ordinated by College and the University and are usually held in the Sheldonian Theatre. The University allocates places to Kellogg students at a number of graduation ceremonies throughout the year. As graduation is conditional on the successful completion of your programme of study and the availability of a place, the dates offered to you may vary from the ceremonies offered to other people on your course and your friends within College. College will be responsible for the detailed arrangements for your graduation.

The University has three graduation seasons aligned with when the final results for most taught programmes are expected to be published. These graduation seasons are:

• July/August
• November
• February — May

Kellogg presents students for graduation in all three seasons. However, the number of places for the different programme types varies depending on the number of expected finishers and when their results will be published. Therefore, you might not be offered a graduation Ceremony in each of the seasons.

Permission to graduate (supplicate) may be withheld from any student with outstanding Course Fees to the University or the College.

Booking your Graduation

Invitations to book a place at a graduation ceremony will be issued by email from the University’s Degree Conferrals Office. This email will provide instructions on making a booking through Student Self Service. When you are invited to book your graduation, you will be presented options based upon the availability of places for Kellogg and the timing of the actual or expected completion of your studies. Where possible, students will be given a choice between several Ceremonies when making their initial booking. If an option is shown as “unavailable” this indicates that a Ceremony is feasible for you but there are no places available at present.

Students are encouraged to make their choice promptly as places are booked on a first come, first served basis. The timing of this invitation will depend upon the type of programme you are undertaking.

• Research students (DPhils and MSc by Research) will be invited to book when they receive their Leave to Supplicate.
• Modular masters students (some MSc and MSt courses) will receive an invitation to book after the publication of their final results. The modular master’s courses are MSc Evidence-Based Healthcare (all strands), MSc Experimental and Translational Therapeutics, MSc Mathematical Finance, MSc Nanotechnology for Health Care & Medicine, MSc Software Engineering, MSc Software and Systems Security, MSc Surgical Science and Practice, and MSt Practical Ethics.
• Non-modular master’s students (all MBA, EMBA, MFA, MPhil, MPP, MSc, and MSt courses not listed above), will receive an email invitation from the Degree Conferrals Office in December of your final year of study and given until the end of the following January to book. After this booking window has closed, please contact the Academic Office to make arrangements to be added to a ceremony waiting list.
• Research or taught students who completed their studies in a previous academic year should contact the Academic Office to make arrangements to be added to a ceremony waiting list.
• PGCE students and students reading for a PGCert or PGDip do not attend Graduation Ceremonies. Separate award presentations and celebrations are arranged by Departments for these students.

Whilst we hope that you will be able to take graduation as an opportunity to celebrate your success with friends and family, some students choose to graduate in absentia (i.e. without attending a Ceremony).

In some circumstances, it is possible that there will be no places available for some students to graduate. If this happens, there are alternatives that can be pursued.

• graduating in absence (“in absentia”)
• being waitlisted for a suitable Ceremony

The Academic Office can advise on these options considering your circumstances.

As Student Self Service presents options based upon the availability of places for Kellogg and the timing of the actual or expected completion of your studies, alternatives are rarely available. If you wish to graduate in person, we recommend you book an option offered by the booking system, even if it does not align with expected availability or clashes with other commitments. The lead time for graduation is often long enough that attendance can, in many cases, be made possible (e.g. by rescheduling other commitments). Pursuing an alternative (joining a Ceremony waiting list or simply postponing graduation) will almost always lead to a delay and complicate arrangements for you and any guests who will be joining you.

If you choose to postpone your graduation, you will be unable to make an immediate booking in the future and your graduation booking will be via the Ceremony waiting list. This can be arranged by the Academic Office.

Making changes to your Graduation booking

If you discover that you can no longer attend your graduation, please cancel your booking as soon as possible, and no later than 60 days before the Ceremony. Once there are fewer than 60 days to the Ceremony, you will not be permitted to cancel your booking and you will graduate in absentia, unless exceptional circumstances apply. This also applies to those on the waiting list for a Ceremony who can be allocated spaces within this timeframe. 

If you booked your graduation before completing your studies, and it is within the booking window (December-January of the final year of study), then a change can often be made in the system. You can cancel the booking and, if a place is available at another Ceremony, re-book. If a place is not available at another Ceremony, then the Academic Office can advise on how to proceed.

If you booked prior to completion of study and the booking window has closed, then it will usually be possible to cancel the booking via the system. It will not normally be possible to re-book to graduate in person. The Academic Office can advise on waiting list options.

If you booked after completion of study (research and modular masters students), it is usually possible to manage the change entirely within the booking system. Simply login and follow the instructions to make the change.

Ceremony Waiting Lists

If you miss the window for booking onto a ceremony, or if all the ceremonies happen to be already fully booked, you can be placed on a waiting list for a specific ceremony. This can usually be done through Student Self Service. If this is not possible, the Academic Office can assist.

If you choose to go on a waiting list for a Ceremony, should a place become available, you could be added automatically to the Ceremony as little as 30 days before the date. If you are added less than 60 days before the Ceremony then you will not be able to be removed from the graduation and if you are unable to attend, you will graduate in absentia. It is up to you to inform the College when you would like to be removed from a Ceremony waiting list to avoid being booked to attend a Ceremony for which it would be too late to make arrangements.

Historic students (completed their studies in a previous academic year) are not able to make an immediate booking so all graduation bookings are made via the Ceremony waiting list process.