Graduation

Friday, 20 September 2024

Graduation ceremonies

We are happy to announce that the 2023/2024 higher education graduation ceremonies will take place on Friday, 20 September 2024, at Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Online graduation registration, sales of guest tickets, and academic robes will open on Monday, 22 April 2024, starting from midday. All eligible students will receive an invitation to register and other relevant information via their email addresses on the day.

Four Awards Congregations will be held on Friday, 20 September 2024, each lasting approximately 1 hour:

Ceremony 1 – 11.00 am - Hospitality, Tourism, Events and Aviation and College of Food, ONLY University of Warwick (UOW) awarded programmes
Ceremony 2 – 1.30 pm - Business, Finance and Marketing; Education (UoW programmes); Sport & Nutrition (Both UoW & UCB programmes); Digital (UCB programmes)
Ceremony 3 – 4.00 pm - Business, Finance & Marketing (University of Birmingham programmes (UoB) and UCB)); Hospitality, Tourism, Events and Aviation (UoB & UCB programmes); Education (UoB programmes); Sport & Nutrition (UoB programmes); COF (UoB & UCB programmes)
Ceremony 4 – 6.30 pm - Creative Industries; Education; Health & Social Care ONLY UCB programmes

It is important that you read all the information regarding the hire of academic dress, the purchase of guest tickets and key updates, all of which can be found on our Canvas page. If you have any further queries, please email them to graduation@ucb.ac.uk.

Useful information

Please find below useful information on what to expect on the day.

On the day

Around a week before graduation, graduates will be sent an email detailing the time that you should arrive at Symphony Hall to register with the University team.

With around 1500 graduates registering during the day, keeping to the registration time on your invitation email will help ease queues and ensure a safer event for everyone. Once you have registered, you will be able to access the robe hire and photography. Please follow the signs to locate the Registration desk, Robing and Photography.

Graduates should be seated 15 minutes before the start of the event. Your guests are requested to be in their seats from 45 minutes prior to the start of your Congregation. The Congregation will start and end with a procession of Academic staff.

After you have crossed the stage, you will not return to the same seat that you sat in earlier. For this reason, you will not be able to bring a handbag or any other personal items into Symphony Hall with you. Please leave them with a member of your family or a friend for the duration of the ceremony. An invitation and further details will be sent to you prior to the ceremony.

Crossing the stage

Please note if you are bringing children they will need to stay with your guests for the duration of the ceremony, they will not be allowed to cross the stage with you.

Your name will be called out as you cross the stage as this is read from the ticket that you receive upon registration on the day, we will not call out the classification achieved.

If you are wearing a mask, you may wish to remove your mask while you cross the stage. As you cross the stage it is traditional to acknowledge the Vice-Chancellor and Principal or Pro-Vice Chancellor conferring your award with a bow or a nod.

Photography and live streaming

There will be photo studios set up on the day of the ceremonies and you can have a photo taken (alone, with fellow students, or with your family). A photograph of you crossing the stage will also be available via the William Northam website.

University College Birmingham's marketing department will also be taking photos and videos on the day, which will be used for social media updates and future marketing campaigns. If you don't want a photo or video of you taken, please let a member of the team know. An online gallery of photos will be made available in the next few days after the event.

Live streaming of the graduation ceremonies will be available on the day. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified when the event starts.

Dress code

Ceremonies are celebratory occasions where graduands will want to look their best for family, friends and for photographs. All students are required to wear academic dress, also known as a cap and gown, and are advised to wear smart clothing underneath their academic dress. William Northam recommends that graduands wear a button through top or shirt under the gown to help the neckband of the hood sit better. Members of the William Northam team will be available on the day to assist with academic dress and to answer any questions.

You will be able to order your academic dress from 22 April 2024, midday.

You should order your Academic Dress by Thursday, 18 September 2024 at the latest from the robing company, William Northam, by visiting their website: www.williamnortham.com or by calling 0370 240 1852.

Your academic dress will be available for collection on the day. The cap and gown must be returned to the robing hall no later than 8.30 pm on the day of the Congregations. Late returns may be charged for the cost of another day’s hire.

Please note that William Northam is the official supplier of robing for University College Birmingham Awards Congregations.

Guest tickets

Guest tickets for UCB’s Graduation ceremonies can only be purchased directly from the Symphony Hall Box Office. Tickets will be available from 22 April 2024 midday.

Guest tickets will be available at a cost of £21.50 each. Plus £3.50 Symphony Hall’s admin charge per ticket.

Graduands - you do NOT need to buy a ticket for yourself, as you will be given your ticket on the day.

Tickets are strictly limited to 4 per student, all overbooked tickets will be refunded.

Guest tickets can only be purchased by quoting the University Student ID number found on the ID card. Please ensure tickets are booked for the correct Congregation, date and time, as it is very difficult to transfer the tickets to another ceremony and it will incur a charge. If you are unsure which ceremony you should be attending, please contact graduation@ucb.ac.uk.

Please note that B:Music are moving to a digital-only ticketing system. However, hard copy tickets are available on request for a £2 charge, also, bear in mind that Symphony Hall also charges a £3.00 exchange fee per ticket if the booker wants to move seats or ceremony.

You can purchase your guest tickets by any of the following methods:

By telephone: 0121 780 3333 (Symphony Hall Box Office)
Online at: www.bmusic.co.uk
In person: by visiting the Symphony Hall Box Office

Please note that Symphony Hall policy states that all guests over the age of 18 months will be required to purchase a ticket

Ticket refunds will only be possible for unsuccessful students and will be arranged after the publication of final results; contact graduation@ucb.ac.uk for further information.

Certificates

If you are not attending the Graduation your certificate will be posted out to your home address after the event.

If you do not wish for your certificate to be posted out to you, you can contact graduation@ucb.ac.uk to arrange an appointment to collect your documents from Academic Registry after Monday 30 September. Please note that hard-copy certificates are not available before the Graduation day.

If you are being awarded by University College Birmingham or University of Birmingham, then you will be able to access the digital version of your certificate through Verify and SDVS. University of Warwick will contact you directly regarding your digital certificate.

Resit information

If you are due to complete in the summer of 2024 and are asked to re-submit or re-sit during the July/August examination period, you will only be able to attend the Awards Congregations subject to successfully completing the qualification and satisfying the requirements of the Boards of Examiners.

Re-sit results will be available on 11 September 2024 for undergraduate students and 13 September 2024 for postgraduate students.

Please note that, due to printing deadlines, it will not be possible to include re-sit students in the hard copy of the graduation ceremony booklet, and your award certificate may not be ready for the event.

Useful contact details

University College Birmingham - Academic Registry (for Graduation information):

Canvas page: Visit here
Email: graduation@ucb.ac.uk
Tel: 0121 232 4158 or 0121 232 4178
Address: Registry, The Link, University College Birmingham, 65-77 Summer Row, Birmingham B3 1JJ.

Symphony Hall

Website: www.bmusic.co.uk
Email: boxoffice@bmusic.co.uk
Ticket telephone line: 0121 780 3333, Mon-Sat, 10am-2pm
To arrange disabled parking: 0121 780 4949

Gown Hire Company-William Northam

Website: www.williamnortham.com
Email: customerservices@williamsnortham.com
Order hotline: 0370 240 1852

Photographers William Northam

Website: www.williamnortham.com
Email: customerservices@williamsnortham.com
Order hotline: 0370 240 1852

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