Graduation

A ‘graduand’ is someone who is eligible to graduate but whose graduation ceremony is yet to take place. Once their graduation ceremony has taken place, they become a ‘graduate’. This is why, when we invite you to graduation, all invitees are referred to as a ‘graduand’.

No. Each graduation ceremony is organised for the presentation of awards for specific Schools/departments. As such, faculty members from those Schools/departments only attend on the specified date/time to present awards. It is for this reason students are not permitted to swap ceremony dates/times.

Yes, if you are unable to attend the ceremony you will graduate in absentia.

No. In order to attend the summer graduation (in July 2023), you must have completed your course and been awarded by Friday 30 June 2023. If you are taking resits, you will no longer be eligible to attend the summer graduation. Instead, you will be invited to a future graduation ceremony (provided you have been successfully awarded).

The Graduation team will contact any students who are no longer eligible to attend the summer graduation around Friday 7 July 2023. Any tickets and gown hire will be automatically refunded.

If you have debts relating to the payment of your tuition fees, our finance team will be in touch with you. You will not be able to graduate until all debts are cleared.

City, University of London is the awarding body.

All graduands have the option to initially purchase up to two guest tickets.

If there are sufficient guest seats left available after the end of the booking period, then there is a possibility that additional seats may be made available for a limited time via the Ede and Ravenscroft booking portal.

If this is the case, we will contact graduands around Tuesday 4 July 2023. Graduands will be limited to a single, additional ticket and the portal will only remain open for approximately 24 hours.

(Please note that if you do not purchase the 2 guest tickets offered before the initial deadline of Wednesday 28 June 2023 at 5pm, unfortunately, you will not be able to purchase those 2 tickets during the ‘second sale’ of guest tickets).

If there are any further unsold tickets after this process is complete, then these will be available to purchase from the Barbican box office on the day of your ceremony on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be £25 each.

Yes, seats are allocated in the order that presenters read out names and graduands cross the stage on the day. It is very important that you sit in your allocated seat or there is risk that your name will be missed!

Guest seating is allocated to a particular area (such as stalls, circle or balcony), but individual seats within that area are not reserved.

During the booking process there is the opportunity for you to tell us of any special access needs that you or your guests may have. You can also email the Graduation team with any access requests/queries. Please do this as far in advance of the ceremony as possible.

In the week leading up to the ceremony you will receive, via email, an official confirmation of your booking. You should ensure that you bring this with you on the day, either electronically on your phone or a printed hard copy. Upon seeing this confirmation, we will issue your (physical) student and guest tickets.

As graduation is a formal occasion, an appropriate standard of dress is expected. For all attendees, business wear or formal dress is classed as appropriate. National dress of your home country is also acceptable. Please note that casual clothes such as jeans, shorts or tee-shirts are not suitable and should be avoided.

No. Physical student/guest tickets are to be collected from the Barbican’s box office when you arrive for your ceremony.

The University is currently reviewing the way latecomers are managed. Going forward, any late arriving graduands may now be presented at the end of the ceremony. Further details will be available shortly.

Graduation ceremonies are typically extremely busy, and we therefore cannot guarantee entry for latecomers. It is imperative that you arrive on time – no later than 9.15am for a morning ceremony and 1.15pm for an afternoon ceremony.

Attendees
We highly recommend taking a lateral flow test (if possible) before attending and wearing a face covering in crowded areas.  We also highly recommend staying at home if you test positive with Covid-19, if you feel unwell, or if you are displaying symptoms.

Hygiene and Cleaning
Sanitising stations will be available throughout the venue. Touch surfaces will be regularly cleaned and wiped down between each ceremony.

Touchpoints
Every effort has been made to reduce touchpoints where possible. There will be no hand shaking on stage, instead students will be asked to doff caps.

What is the Barbican doing to help reduce the risk of airborne transmission of Covid-19
in its venues?
The Barbican is a Covid-secure venue, and we take the safety of our audiences, staff and partners seriously. While the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states the risk of ventilation and air conditioning systems spreading Coronavirus (Covid-19) is extremely low, and that organisations can continue to use most types of air conditioning and ventilation systems as normal, we’ve introduced a number of measures to ensure we reduce any risk of airborne transmission through our ventilation, heating and cooling systems. These include switching to pumping 100% fresh air into our building through our ventilation systems. This reduces the risk of airborne transmission and provides much more fresh air than our usual operation of these systems.

Yes. The main entrance to the Barbican on Silk Street is ramped and lifts give access to all levels. If entering The Barbican Centre via the Silk Street entrance, the lifts are located directly ahead beside the Lakeside Terrace entrance, which is street level. There is further information about access on the Barbican's website.

The cloakroom based next to the box office (in the Barbican) will be open to store belongings if required and is free to use (though donations that support the Barbican’s charitable work may be made).

The closest stations are Barbican and Moorgate underground stations.

Yes, however it is slightly more expensive to hire on the day. We strongly advise that you hire the gown ahead of the ceremony.

We suggest that you arrange to meet your guests at the Silk Street entrance to the Barbican Centre. Please refer to the Barbican Centre website for further visitor information.

The mobile signal at the Barbican is very limited, so we would not advise relying on your mobile when arranging to meet people. There is free (Barbican) Wi-Fi available, however.

We anticipate the ceremonies to last approximately 90 minutes.

Yes, the ceremonies can be viewed on the Summer graduation (July 2023) events page..

Yes, there are several screens in the foyer where guests without tickets can stand and watch the graduation. However, we urge where possible that guests who do not have tickets watch the livestream at home via the Summer graduation (July 2023) events page..

We cannot confirm at this time whether a recording will be available for purchase, however you will be able to watch your ceremony back on the Summer graduation (July 2023) events page..

There are refreshments available in the foyer, outside the graduation hall, once the ceremony has taken place.

If you are attending graduation, you will receive your certificate on stage.

If you choose not to attend graduation and instead complete the certificate request form linked to in your graduation invitation email, your certificate will be made available after all ceremonies have finished - the week commencing Monday 24 July 2023 onwards. Please see Degree Certificates for more information.

Yes.

Up until Wednesday 5 July 2023, 11.59pm:

Simply log back into your Ede & Ravenscroft account and request a refund.

After Wednesday 5 July 2023, 11.59pm:

As gowns are issued by Ede & Ravenscroft, please contact their customer service centre (open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) via their contact form or on +44 (0)1223 861854 / +44 (0)1223 734759. Gown refunds are available up to 7 days before your ceremony.

Up until Wednesday 5 July 2023, 11.59pm:

Simply log back into your Ede & Ravenscroft account and request a refund.

After Wednesday 5 July 2023, 11.59pm:

Please contact the Graduation team before your ceremony. Please note that refunds cannot be given if you contact us after the ceremonies have taken place and will not be issued for tickets that are either not collected from the Barbican box office or are not scanned on entry (if e-tickets are being used).

Refunds will be processed after all ceremonies have ended (approx. early/mid-August 2023).

No. Guest tickets can only be purchased by the graduand up to the maximum allocation at that time. This ensures fairness in the availability of guest tickets for all participants. Guest tickets cannot be swapped between graduands.

Yes, absolutely! However, you will need to purchase a guest ticket if the child needs their own seat. Babies (in arms) and toddlers (who are able to sit on a lap) do not need a ticket.

Yes. The International Student Support staff in the Student Centre are on hand to give you advice if you need to apply for a visa to attend graduation or if your family members need to apply for visas to visit London as your guests at the ceremony. Please visit the International Student Support pages for full details.

Please note that you do not need an official invitation letter from City, University of London to make your visa application, and so we do not provide these. Your invite email should be accepted as evidence of invitation to the event.

If you do not attend the graduation that you have been invited to, or do not reply to the invitation, you will not automatically be deferred and re-invited to a later set of ceremonies.

However, it may be possible to request a deferral if you are faced with exceptional circumstances. Requests for a deferral must be submitted via the form linked to in your graduation invitation email (by the specified deadline) - and will be considered on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Graduation Manager.

Please see City’s Graduation Deferral Policy.