In Absentia conferments

What is conferment?

Conferment (or conferral) is the official act of granting an academic degree, diploma, or title to a student by the University.

It is the legal and administrative moment you officially become a graduate. For most students, conferment happens during their in person degree ceremony. However, some awards are conferred In Absentia distinct from the physical celebration.

Why are some awards conferred In Absentia?

This could be for one of the following reasons:

• Non attendance at in person ceremony

  If you do not attend your in person ceremony - you will automatically be conferred In Absentia during the ceremony you were invited to attend.

• MBChB and BDS students

  After the final board of examiners has met, In Absentia conferments are held each July, prior to the summer graduation ceremonies. The University Seal is applied to the lists of students and these are forwarded to the GMC and GDC in order for them to grant provisional registration for the students to practise. These students are eligible and will already have been invited to attend the summer graduation ceremonies in the normal way.

• Changing award to bachelors from Masters

  Occasionally students are awarded a Bachelor's degree, rather than continuing on to the final year of a masters programme as expected. In this case, the degree will be conferred In Absentia in early August and graduates will be able to receive their certificate and/or an invitation to the graduation ceremonies the following July. 

• Awarded outside registration period

  You complete your studies and you are awarded outside of the standard graduation registration deadline period (late September for January ceremonies and late March for July ceremonies).

When will I be conferred?

If your award was not conferred at a ceremony, you will be conferred on one of our scheduled In Absentia conferments in January, April, August or October.

What happens after a scheduled In Absentia conferment?

Following the In Absentia conferment, you will be contacted by email and asked to complete a form to provide us with a mailing address for your certificate, and also asks if you wish to be invited to the next available in-person ceremony.   

Both your University and personal email addresses will be used so you need to check your student record to ensure your personal email address is correct. 

Arranging the postage of your certificate

If you are conferred during an in person ceremony, you can provide an address for your certificate when you register to not attend. If you do not provide an address, your certificate will be taken to the Student Information Desk once all the ceremonies have taken place and all other certificates have been posted.

If you are conferred outside of an in person ceremony at one of our scheduled In absentia conferments, you will be asked to provide a postal address in the form we send you. You can pay for tracked delivery of your certificate by following the link in the form.

How is attending as a Presentation student different to attending as a Conferment student?

If you choose to attend an in person ceremony, you will attend as a “presentation student”.

• Attending as a ‘Presentation student’ - your award has already been officially conferred but you are attending the in-person ceremony to be presented. This means you will cross the stage alongside other graduates - but you will not receive your certificate as you leave the stage as you will have already received it.   
• Attending as a ‘Conferment student’ you attend your in-person ceremony when invited and have your award ‘conferred’ on the day, receiving your certificate at the ceremony.

Further questions

If you have any further questions about In Absentia conferments please contact us via our contact form.

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