What to bring to your graduation ceremony
A practical kit list for a University of Sheffield graduation: what gets you into the Octagon, what has to stay small, and the few things that make a long day on Western Bank easier.
University of Sheffield Graduation Guide
Everything you need to know for your University of Sheffield graduation — registering, tickets, the day itself, academic dress and what happens if you can't attend.
Graduating from Sheffield happens in one building, the Octagon Centre on Western Bank, with the Students' Union next door handling everything around it: robes, photographs, food, and somewhere for the rest of the family to watch. The ceremony itself runs between 45 and 90 minutes. Getting to it smoothly takes some planning — a form to complete before your results are out, academic dress in your faculty's colour, two seats for the people you most want there. This guide covers all of it in the order it happens, drawn from the university's own pages. Search your school below to find your ceremony.
Part one
The dates that actually matter
Sheffield graduates twice a year: postgraduates in winter, undergraduates in summer. Each round runs the same way, and almost everything that can go wrong happens early — an invitation left unread, a registration deadline that passes while you wait for results, a debt you forgot about. The exact date and time of your ceremony come with your invitation, and the university keeps the current dates on its graduation pages.
How a ceremony round runs
- The invitationArrives by email with your registration deadline. Act on it the week it lands.
- The registration deadlinePasses before your results come out. Register on the assumption you'll pass.
- Robe ordersOpen around the same time and close a few weeks before the ceremonies. University email accounts close during graduation week, so give your personal address for anything you'll need on the day.
- Your e-ticketsDownload them from your student record shortly before the ceremonies. They carry the seat numbers for you and your guests.
- The ceremoniesSeveral a day, school by school, all in the Octagon.
Part two
Find your exact ceremony
At Sheffield your ceremony is set by your school, and each day holds several of them. Type your school or subject below to see which ceremony is yours and when it starts, then add it straight to your calendar.
Part three
Register, the right way
Registering is the step that makes everything else happen: your place in the hall, your guest tickets, your certificate. You register whether you're attending or not. Saying you won't be there is how the university knows where to post your certificate.
The trap is timing. Registration closes before results are published, so anyone who waits to see their marks misses it. An invitation isn't confirmation that you've passed, and if your results don't complete in time you're simply taken off the attendance list. Register as soon as you're invited.
Before you hit submit
- Check your nameThe form shows the name on your student record, and that's the one printed in the programme and on your certificate. Only your first name and surname are read out on stage. Need to change it? Do it with the Student Information Desk before you register.
- Attending or notBoth go through the same form. Not attending? Give an address for your certificate.
- Access needs go hereThere's a section on the form for you and your guests. Once tickets are allocated, new arrangements are harder to make.
- Plans change?Cancel your place through the Graduation Team's contact form. If you simply don't turn up, your certificate is held back until you claim it.
Part four
Guests, tickets, and the livestream
Every graduate is guaranteed two guest tickets. That's the number to plan around: extra tickets are unlikely, requests by email aren't taken, and if any are released the university emails everyone on the same day. If more people are coming, the Students' Union has room for them. The ceremony plays live in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium, which seats 400 and needs no ticket, as well as in Bar One and the Graduation Kids' Zone.
Two details catch families out. You and your guests sit apart, so every guest needs their seat number from your e-ticket before the day. And any child over three needs a ticket of their own. With younger children, the university suggests the auditorium, where the atmosphere is informal, or the Kids' Zone on Level 2 of the Union, open all day with games and crafts. It isn't staffed, so an adult stays with them.
Guest essentials
- 2 guaranteed ticketsPer graduate. Don't count on a third.
- Seated apartSend every guest their own seat number.
- Children over threeNeed a ticket for the hall. The auditorium and the Kids' Zone don't.
- Watching from homeEvery ceremony streams live on the university's website. Share the link with anyone who can't travel.
Agree a meeting point before you go in. When the ceremony ends, the Octagon and the concourse outside get very crowded. A spot you've chosen in advance saves twenty minutes of phone calls.
Part five
How the day actually unfolds
The whole day happens along a short stretch of Western Bank. The Students' Union is where you robe up and have your photographs taken; the Octagon Centre, a few steps away, is where you graduate. The university suggests arriving at least two hours before your ceremony. There are security checks on the way into the hall, and you'll want time for photographs before you sit down.
Pack light
Bags are searched and nothing bigger than a small handbag goes into the Octagon. Larger bags go in its cloakroom, which is free.
Robe up at the Students' Union
Official robes are collected on Level 4, at any time up to 45 minutes before your ceremony. Bring your order confirmation, printed or on your phone. Hiring from us? You arrive already dressed and skip this queue.
Photographs, if there's time
The official photographers are next to the robing area, on Level 4 all day. Short on time? Go after the ceremony instead.
In your seat 40 minutes early
Staff register your attendance from your seat. Guests sit down 20 minutes before the start, and the doors close ten minutes before. After that, you may not be let in.
Cross the stage
Up a short flight of steps (an alternative can be arranged if you ask in advance), across the platform as your name is read, a doff of the cap to the Presiding Officer, and down the other side. If your award is conferred on the day, your certificate is handed to you as you come off.
Out to the concourse
Marshals lead the graduates out in procession, then you leave by the main doors to find your guests. Your school may hold a reception before or after; check its invitation. Before you go home, the alumni stand on Level 4 of the Union has a free goodie bag waiting.
Part six
The gown, the hood, the cap
Academic dress at Sheffield isn't optional: if you're attending your ceremony, you're wearing it. The university's official robe maker is Ede & Ravenscroft, and its regulations allow any supplier whose dress meets them. That's why it pays to know what your set should look like.
Sheffield's hoods are green. What sets yours apart is your faculty's colour: a bachelor's hood is half-lined with white fur and edged in it, and a master's hood is silk, lined in it throughout. Arts and Humanities is crushed strawberry (music degrees wear cream brocade), Engineering purple, Science apricot, Social Sciences lemon yellow. Health splits three ways: red for Medicine, pale rose pink for Dental Surgery, cerise for everything else. Doctors trade the black gown for scarlet. Before you book anything, check which faculty your degree sits in.
What's included with rental
- The full setGown, hood and mortarboard.
- Flexible collectionPick up the evening before or on the morning of your ceremony.
- No robing queueYou arrive on campus already dressed.
- Return in personAt the end of graduation day.
Book early: sizes run out as each ceremony round approaches.
Official academic dress examples (PDF) — sheffield.ac.uk
Part seven
Debts and eligibility
To take your place in the hall, three things have to be true: you registered by the deadline, you completed your programme, and your results reached Student Administration in time. One more catches people out: every debt you owe the university has to be paid before you can graduate.
Some awards don't come with a ceremony at all. A Postgraduate Certificate isn't presented on stage; it's made available to you by Student Services. And an award that lands outside a round's registration window is conferred in absentia instead (more on that below).
If you're not sure what you owe
Check before your registration deadline, not after.
Payments take time to clear, and a balance that looks settled may still be in transit. Sort anything outstanding early and check it has landed.
Part eight
If you can't attend
Your degree doesn't depend on the ceremony. If the date doesn't work, you still graduate. The only question is how you'd like to mark it.
Say so when you register
Choose not to attend on the same form and give an address for your certificate. Without one, it waits at the Student Information Desk once every other certificate has been posted.
You're conferred in absentia
Your degree is granted during the ceremony you were invited to, without you there. It counts exactly the same.
Awarded outside the deadlines?
You're conferred at one of the university's scheduled in absentia dates. The email that follows asks for your postal address and whether you'd like an invitation to the next in-person ceremony. If you say yes, you cross the stage as a presentation graduate, with your certificate already in hand.
And for anyone who can't be in Sheffield on the day, every ceremony streams live.
Official in absentia conferments — sheffield.ac.uk
Reference
Useful links
Official sources
- University of Sheffield — GraduationThe starting point for every ceremony round.
- University of Sheffield — Graduation datesThe upcoming winter and summer ceremonies.
- University of Sheffield — Ceremony scheduleWhich school graduates when.
- University of Sheffield — Plan your dayTimings, robing, photographs and the ceremony itself.
- University of Sheffield — Academic dress (PDF)Every gown and hood, with the faculty colours.
- University of Sheffield — Frequently asked questionsTickets, gowns, parking and certificates.
- University of Sheffield — In absentia confermentsGraduating without a ceremony, and attending one later.
- University of Sheffield — Accessibility and inclusivitySupport for graduands and guests.
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