Graduation booking

You will be invited to book onto a degree ceremony at the end of your degree course. Undergraduates and taught Postgraduates will receive the invitation via email in the November/December of their final year. Research students will receive the invitation shortly after they have completed their degree course or (in the case of DPhil students) been granted leave to supplicate.

If the date you would like to graduate on is full, you may ask to be placed on a waiting list for that date via the 'Historic Graduand' route - please contact the College Academic Office degree.ceremonies@wadham.ox.ac.uk. Please note that you may not hold a firm booking for one date and be on a waiting list for another date.

Important:  Please note that the University will not accept cancellations within 60 days of a degree ceremony (unless there are mitigating circumstances). If you are allocated a space to attend from a waiting list 60-30 days prior to a ceremony, you will not be able to withdraw from the ceremony, and your degree will therefore go through in absentia, without the opportunity to take the degree in person at a later date.

When you book a place at a degree ceremony, you will be asked to provide a personal email address at which you can be reached after you have left the College and your Nexus account has expired. Around 70 days prior to the ceremony on which you have booked the College will contact you via this email address with a webform to complete to confirm your booking and hospitality arrangements, along with further details and schedule of the day. Payment instructions for your lunch guests (plus MA fee if applicable) will follow around 10 days prior to your degree day when a final email will be sent confirming your guest numbers.

If you completed your degree some years ago and have not yet been through a ceremony, you were unable to enrol for a graduation ceremony at the end of your course, or if you wish to take an MA degree, you will be regarded as a ‘historic graduand’.

Historic graduands must contact the degree.ceremonies@wadham.ox.ac.uk to book a place at a graduation ceremony (or to be placed on a waiting list if all places on their preferred date are currently taken). Historic graduands are also able to graduate in absentia at the next degree ceremony, irrespective of availability.

Under certain circumstances, College may withhold graduation where tuition fees remain outstanding.

It is very important that you please keep us up-to-date with your most recent personal email address (not your Wadham email). If you have changed your personal email address since booking on eVision, please let us know your new email address, otherwise important details will not reach you.

There is time set aside for graduands only on degree days for a compulsory session with the Dean of Degrees to sign the register of attendance in advance of the ceremony. Graduands are automatically booked into lunch in advance, for which there is no charge. There is a lunch charge for guests invited, and this payment will be made approximately 10 days prior to graduation.

Please ensure you have notified us in good time (no less than three weeks prior to the degree day) if you or your guests have any accessibility and/or mobility difficulties, so that we may make suitable arrangements in College, and inform the Sheldonian Theatre.

All graduands must attend the degree ceremony wearing the appropriate sub fusc (academic dress) under their gown, in accordance with the University Regulations: Academic dress | University of Oxford. Wadham is a 'one-gown' college, which means that graduands enter the Sheldonian in the gown of the degree to be conferred (over the sub-fusc), and mid-ceremony the new hood is added, except for DPhil graduands who, if they have a previous Oxford degree, must go over to the Sheldonian in the gown of their previous Oxford degree (over their sub-fusc) and midway through the ceremony be changed into the DPhil gown. DPhil graduands who do not have a previous Oxford degree must go over to the Sheldonian in sub-fusc, and they will midway through the ceremony receive their DPhil gown.

The relevant gown(s), hood(s) and mortar board may be hired from Wadham College; Wadham has only a limited number of gowns, hoods and mortar boards for hire. Please therefore contact the Lodge Manager on lodge@wadham.ox.ac.uk to discuss your order no later than 4 weeks before the ceremony. The Lodge Manager will contact you for gowning details (ie: height) and payment for gown hire. Late requests to hire gowns from Wadham College may not be possible after this deadline and you will need to arrange your own hire.

The Lodge Manager and/or their deputy will also attend the degree ceremony to assist in robing. The College does not charge a gowning fee in addition to the gown hire.

If you have your own gown(s), hood(s) and mortar board relevant to the conferment of your degree, you do not need to hire them. Please check that you have the correct academic dress as spares ones will not be available at the degree ceremony.

Tickets are available for collection from the College Lodge by the graduand on the morning of their ceremony. The ceremony takes place at the Sheldonian Theatre, and the guests of graduands should arrive at least half an hour prior to the ceremony; regrettably seats cannot be reserved and entrance is strictly for those holding a guest ticket. Please be aware that ceremonies are not suitable for children under the age of seven.

You will usually be able to collect your degree certificate in College on the day of graduation following the ceremony. On some degree days your degree certificate will be sent to you by the University following the degree ceremony. Please ensure that you keep us up to date with any changes in your postal address.  

Important:  If you have not received your degree certificate within three months (ie: 30 November for July ceremonies) and you fail to notify the University Degree Conferrals Office/College within that period, you will be charged for a replacement certificate. Replacement certificates can be ordered through the University Online Shop. Further information is available on the Degree Certificates webpage.

Candidates for higher degrees (DPhil, MPhil etc.) must ensure their thesis is deposited electronically at least two weeks before the degree day, otherwise they will be unable to take their degree.

To comply with legislation, the University states that ‘Graduands, guests and staff attending a degree ceremony 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 personalized videos of the ceremony’. In view of this, it is not possible to request the non-publication of names of graduands who attend a ceremony. However, graduands who take their degree(s) in absentia may request that their names are not included in the programme by contacting the Academic Office.

As a former matriculated student, you will automatically be admitted to Membership of Convocation following the conferment of your degree(s) at a ceremony (either by attending or in absentia) thus making you a life member of the University. It will not be necessary for you to apply for membership of Convocation or to hold an MA degree. As a member of Convocation you may vote for the Professor of Poetry and the Chancellor. You are also accorded special privileges in College, in particular dining rights at High Table (by prior arrangement with the Domestic Bursar) and the opportunity to attend Gaudy Dinners at regular intervals. Being a member of Convocation also entitles you to a ‘gold’ Bodleian Readers card, which allows access to University libraries (though not borrowing rights).