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You must meet the following requirements before the date of your graduation ceremony, otherwise the College may not be able to put you forward to graduate:

1. Pay all bills. You need to pay your College and University bills before you will be put forward for a graduation. Your College account statement will be emailed out to you by our finance office team, be sure to pay this promptly and in full. If you have questions, please contact the finance office.
2. Return all books. We also require you to return or replace any books you have on loan from Cambridge libraries before you can be approved to graduate. You can return books in person or by post, and if you are in the UK, you can request a pre-paid returns label to return your books by freepost. (Please note the International Returns refund system operated by the University Library does not apply to College books. We therefore kindly ask you to cover the cost of postage or you can purchase replacement copies via Amazon.uk and have them shipped to the Library. Used copies in good condition are acceptable).
3. Receive degree approval (postgraduates). If your course is provided by ICE (primarily MST students) then you must complete your degree and wait for your Degree Approval letter before you can access the graduation registration area on CamSIS.  If you are on another postgraduate course (non-ICE), you can register in advance of the end of your studies, as long as you have checked with your Department that your results will be approved and published more than 10 days before the date of your chosen ceremony. This is particularly cruicial for the July ceremony, as the results for some MPhil degrees will not be published in time for students to graduate at this ceremony.  This is because even for degrees with a 9-month duration, the Degree Committee for that subject may not have met to approve the results in time for the ceremony.  

You may choose to have your degree conferred in person at a graduation ceremony in the Senate-House, or alternatively you can choose to graduate in absentia, without attending the ceremony. If you choose to graduate in absentia, you cannot decide to graduate in person to the same degree at a later ceremony.   

Celebrants - those who graduated to their degree in absentia during the pandemic - may attend a Senate-House ceremony in person to celebrate their degree.

Whether you apply to graduate in person or in absentia, you must apply via . Celebrants will not be able to register via CamSIS, and should instead email the Tutorial Administrator, Helen Waterson.

Availability at your chosen ceremony is not guaranteed.  Early booking is advised as ceremonies may close to registration before the advertised Application Deadline if all in person graduation spaces have been filled.  You must register for graduation on CamSIS before making travel arrangements for yourself and your guests.        

When registering for a ceremony, please make sure that you also update your contact details in CamSIS with a current external email address, postal address and phone number. This is especially important as these details will be used for any correspondence before and after the ceremony.

When registering for graduation on you can request up to two Senate-House guest tickets for the ceremony. These tickets will be allocated to you automatically on request.

You may also make a request on CamSIS for one additional ticket known as a Waitlist ticket.  On the Monday before graduation, any unclaimed Senate-House guest tickets will be reallocated through a lottery to those who have requested a Waitlist ticket. Please note that not all graduands who request a Waitlist ticket will be allocated one and it is not possible to request more than one ticket. Graduands and celebrants will be informed by email if they have been allocated a Waitlist ticket. 

All guests attending the graduation ceremony at the Senate-House must have a ticket for fire safety reasons, including babies and children. Please email the Tutorial Administrator, Helen Waterson, if any of your guests have limited mobility or are under the age of 12, and confirm their ages. Graduands themselves do not require a ticket.

If you attend a graduation ceremony in person, you will receive you certificate as you leave the Senate House, and the transcript will then follow by post. If you graduate in absentia, both your certificate and transcript will be posted to you.  The College will send documents to your 'Home address' as listed on , notifying you by your preferred email address before posting. Please make sure both your home address and your preferred email address are updated before you graduate.

We will send your certificate and transcripts via Royal Mail (First Class for within the UK; Airmail for overseas destinations). Please be advised that Airmail does not include a tracking facility. If you wish to make arrangements for your mail to be sent via special delivery, you must make the necessary bookings and send the details to the Tutorial Administrator, at least 48 hours in advance of collection.  

Documents are available digitally around 10 days after graduation and you can also arrange for your documents to be shared with third party organisations via the Digitary Core service.  Please see the for details.

Awarding of M.B. for Medics

Following the completion of their degree and award of the BChir, medics have one calendar year in which to graduate in person to their MB degree.  It will then be conferred automatically by the University. This usually means that the last ceremony each year at which the degree can be conferred in person is the May ceremony. 

The Master of Arts (MA) Degree

If you hold a Cambridge BA, you may proceed to the MA not less than six years from the end of your first term of residence, providing that your BA has been conferred. Further information is available via the .

The March ceremony is the College's MA graduation ceremony, where cohorts of students are invited to take their MA together.  Students who matriculated in October 2017 will become eligible for their MA in January 2024 and invitations will be sent out in December. 

Alternatively, eligible students may have their MA conferred in person at any graduation ceremony (with the exception of General Admission in June and the ceremony in July), or in absence at any ceremony.

On the morning of your graduation, all graduands and celebrants come to ŷ������College for the dress check and rehearsal with our Praelector. You are responsible for ensuring that you are fully compliant with the dress code requirements, and the Praelector will not present you to graduate in the case that you are not dressed correctly.

The Praelector will then perform a rehearsal of the graduation ceremony, so that you know which order to stand in, and what is expected of you when you are presented for graduation in the Senate-House.

Lafayette Photography will be available to take individual pictures in College. Information on how to book a time slot for these photos will be sent out to graduands and celebrants by email.

There will be a College Reception for graduands and their guests before the graduation ceremony, which will take the form of a buffet lunch with refreshments.  The event is ticket only and you must register yourself and your guests in advance via CamSIS self service.   

Graduands and celebrants then make their way on foot to the Senate-House from the back gate of ŷ������College.

The procession route goes through Sidgwick Site, and then over the river and through the grounds of King's College. Since only graduands, celebrants and Fellows of the College are permitted access through King's, any guests may either accompany the procession part of the way, or go ahead separately and wait on King's Parade for the procession to come out of the gate of King's College. 

During the ceremony, you will proceed through the Senate-House and you will stand to receive your degree. The Praelector will give the customary speech to present you and your degree will be conferred individually by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (normally your Head of House). Once you have completed your ceremony, you may either engage with the Tempest photography series or leave the Yard. 

Please note that you will not be able to take a bag or backpack to the Senate-House. These should be left with your guests. All you will need with you is a payment method if you wish to purchase photographs or certificate frames from Tempest photography, and an umbrella if necessary.

Tempest, the University's official photographers, will offer studio photography and certificate framing services on the day, as well as photographing you inside the Senate-House as your degree is conferred. You will need to have a payment method with you at the Senate-House if you wish to purchase photographs.  Please see the University webpage on  for further details. It will not be possible for graduands to gather in front of Senate-House to take photographs on the day.

Ceremonies are livestreamed, and by attending the ceremony in person, you are giving your consent to being included in the livestream. It will not be possible to take part in the ceremony and not be part of the recording.

The livestream link will be sent to in person graduands and celebrants on the day before the graduation ceremony.  The livestream is provided to allow those friends and family members unable to attend the Senate-House to view this important event. It is provided on the understanding that it is a private recording, not to be publicly shared on social media or in any public forum.

Whilst the University and the contractors will make best efforts to provide the livestream, it is not guaranteed and some circumstances may prevent either a live broadcast or possibly a later showing of any recording.