Schedule of ceremonies

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Schedule of ceremonies process

A draft schedule of ceremonies is produced by the Graduation Team by:

December for the summer ceremonies

June for the winter ceremonies

This gives a directional guidance to the Faculties of the likely dates and times of ceremonies.  It must be remembered that when the programmes and graduand numbers are attached this draft can change considerably. The Graduation Team asks for the Faculties co-operation in this process.

In January for summer ceremonies and September for winter ceremonies, the programmes and graduand numbers are added and the schedule is refined. An attendance percentage is used to allocate each Academic Unit with a ‘most likely’ seat allocation figure.  From this the Graduation Team can tell more effectively how many ceremonies to allocate each Academic Unit.  The percentages come from historical ceremony attendance figures held by the Graduation Team.  The Faculties preference for timings and dates will be considered wherever possible but to work around all Faculties receptions is not always possible.

The Graduation Team will continue to work with the Faculty contacts in refining the potentially Eligible Graduands (PEGs) reports.  These reports will give a figure, by Academic Unit, of the total number of graduands in their final year who are eligible to attend graduation.  Not all programmes are eligible for graduation; there is further information concerning Eligible Programmes on this website.

The schedule of ceremonies is finalised between the Academic Units and the Graduation Team in:

January/February for the Summer Ceremonies

September for the Winter Ceremonies

This is then passed to the VC to sign off.  The graduand schedule can then be published.  However, the VC will speak to this year's Honorary Graduand nominees and they will choose the ceremony in which they wish to receive their award.  As the Honorary Graduand chooses which ceremony they can attend to fit in with their diary, the Schools may find that they have an Honorary Graduand on their ceremony which is not exactly relevant to the Honorary Graduands background.  Once the Honorary Graduands have confirmed their ceremonies the full schedule will be published.

 

Graduand wheelchair user information required:

NB the Graduation Team will need to know in:

November  for summer ceremonies

September for winter ceremonies

If you have any expected graduands who are proposing to attend the forthcoming graduation ceremonies and if they are manual or motorised wheelchair users.  The Graduation Team tries where possible to schedule these graduands’ ceremonies in the Turner Sims as this venue is seen as the most wheelchair user friendly.

Please email the Graduation Team with this information: gradar@soton.ac.uk

 

Please click here for an overview ceremony schedule for winter graduation 2011.

Please click here for the detailed ceremony schedule (available mid-September), showing allocation of programmes.

The Graduation Team has provided your Faculties graduation contact with a copy of the detailed ceremony schedule, which includes programme allocation.  You can also view your School's ceremonies by programme via the Graduands and Guests website.

 

Schedule of ceremonies as "confidential information"

All Schools are asked not to publish the schedule of ceremonies to students.  The graduation website provides an overview schedule for information to all potentially eligible graduands.