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Home / Administration / Graduating / Graduation / Eligibility and conferral

Graduation

Eligibility and conferral

Eligibility to graduate

To be eligible to graduate you need to have:

settled outstanding debts to the University by the release of your final semester results. Find out more about paying your fees
received a completion letter, confirming you have completed the requirements of your course.

We'll email you when your completion letter is available in Sydney Student and ask you to review details for your graduation so that your degree can be conferred.

Appeals

All appeals need to be lodged before your degree is conferred, as you can't appeal an academic decision once you’ve graduated.

If you've lodged an appeal, contact us online (select 'I have an issue with my upcoming graduation ceremony') so that we can withdraw you from conferral until your appeal is finalised.

Once finalised, contact us online again to proceed with your conferral.

Find out more about appeals.

Intensive sessions

If you completed your final unit of study during an intensive session, you will usually need to wait until the end of the semester to receive your results. This means you won't receive your completion letter and be eligible to graduate until after your results are finalised.

Research students

If you're a higher degree by research student, make sure you're aware of the deadlines to receive your completion letter and to confirm your graduation details as these determine your conferral date and ceremony date.

Conferral

Conferral is where you are awarded your degree, and you’ll be able to use any associated titles. Once conferred, you'll receive a transcript and testamur which confirms completion of your degree.

Conferral is separate from attending a graduation ceremony. It generally happens soon after the completion of your study, earlier than scheduled ceremonies.

Read about the steps involved in conferral and upcoming conferral dates.

Steps

Your completion letter is available

Once the University has assessed you are eligible to have your degree conferred, you will receive an email confirming your completion letter is now available in Sydney Student. This email will usually be sent a couple of weeks after the release of your final results, but for some courses it may be longer.

You will need to have received your completion letter at least 10 weeks before the first ceremony scheduled for May, October or December, in order to be allocated to a ceremony during that month.

Submit your graduation details in Sydney Student

As soon as you've received your completion letter you'll need to complete 'Getting ready to graduate' in Sydney Student (go to ‘My studies', 'Assessments', then ‘Getting ready to graduate’). This is where you can:

a. Confirm your details

It's important you check your legal name and award course details as these will be printed on your testamur and transcript. If your details are incorrect, you will need to make changes by the deadline:

20 February for graduation ceremonies held in Semester 1
7 August for graduation ceremonies held in Semester 2.

b. Indicate if you'd like to receive a ceremony invitation

You'll be asked whether you plan to attend your graduation ceremony.

If you select 'yes', we'll email your invitation closer to the ceremony date. Find out more about your ceremony invitation.

If you select 'no', you’ll be prompted to complete the request to 'Graduate without attending a ceremony' in Sydney Student. This is where you can tell us how you’d like to receive your graduation documents.

Your degree is conferred

You will receive a digital version of your graduation documents 2-5 business days after your degree is conferred. These will be sent to your personal email address, as recorded in Sydney Student, with information on how to create an account with My eQuals. This will also be the address we use to set up your My eQuals account.

When your degree will be conferred

In most instances, your conferral date is determined by when you completed your studies and received your completion letter.

If you completed your studies in Semester 2, 2022, and received your completion letter by mid-February you will most likely have your degree conferred on Monday, 27 March 2023.
If you completed your studies in Semester 1, 2023, and received your completion letter by the end of July you will most likely have your degree conferred on Monday, 11 September 2023.

We’ll send you an email once we’ve determined your exact conferral date. This will be a few weeks after you receive your completion letter.

Conferral takes place before your in-person ceremony, if you choose to attend one.

There may be instances where your conferral date may vary. This will most likely be because aspects of your degree are yet to be finalised, such as if you have an active appeal or if you have pending results. In these instances, the Graduations Office will determine the most appropriate conferral date.

Conferral dates for 2023

Monday 27 March
Monday 26 June
Monday 11 September
Monday 4 December

Can I request an earlier conferral date?

In some situations, you may need to have an different conferral date.

Your digital graduation documents will be available 2-5 business days after your degree is conferred and your hard-copy documents provided at your ceremony. If you need a hard-copy document that you've completed your degree once it's been conferred you can request an optional certificate of graduate status.

Later conferral date for 2023

Applications for a later conferral date for 2023 have closed.

What happens next

If you applied it’s important that you don’t complete a ‘Request to graduate in-absentia’ or a request to 'Graduate without attending a ceremony' in Sydney Student, as this will set an earlier conferral date for you.

We’ll email you towards the end of August with the outcome of your request and what to do next. We’ll use the personal email address you provided when you submitted the EOI.

If granted a later conferral date of 4 December 2023:

you’ll receive your digital graduation documents within 2-3 business days of conferral
we’ll email you to ask your preferred postal address and post your hardcopy documents 3-4 weeks after conferral.

If you've indicated you'd like to attend a graduation ceremony in Sydney in May 2024, we'll send your invitation in early-to-mid March 2024.

As the deadline has passed, you are no longer able to make any changes to your application for a later conferral date.

Last updated: 27 October 2023

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