On the day

  1. Travel and parking

    Park at our Leek Road site free or charge or travel by public transport.

  2. Register

    Our registration desk is located in the Sir Stanley Matthews Sports Centre. Please arrive 90 minutes before your ceremony. If you arrive earlier than 90 minutes before your ceremony, the registration desk may not be open.

  3. Collect your gown

    Once you’ve registered, you can continue to the gowning area within the Sir Stanley Matthews Sports Centre to collect your gown, hood and mortarboard/bonnet.

  4. Take your seats

    After collecting your gown, you’ll be directed to the welcome reception in the Catalyst. All graduates and guests are asked to take their seats 30 minutes before their ceremony start time.

  5. What happens at the Ceremony

    The Awards Ceremony begins with a welcome, formal processions, and an opening address before graduates cross the stage, followed by a Vote of Thanks and closing remarks.

  6. After the Ceremony

    Join our Alumni Relations, Career Connect and Postgraduate Study teams after the Ceremony before returning your gown. Certificates will be issued and posted within 8 weeks of receiving formal notification of your award

Travel and parking 

Please note that parking on our Leek Road site is free of charge and reserved for our graduates and guests on the day of your Awards Ceremony. If you are driving to our Stoke-on-Trent campus, follow the parking directions and instructions from our parking attendants.

Please consider using other forms of transport when travelling to Stoke-on-Trent, including rail links, as Stoke-on-Trent railway station is just a five-minute walk from the Leek Road site. We also have great bus links.

How to find us

Register 

  • Registration - 8.00am - 9.00am (for 9.30am ceremony)
  • Registration - 10.45am - 11.45am (for 12.15pm ceremony)
  • Registration - 1.45pm - 2.45pm (for 3.15pm ceremony)

If you are late, you must still confirm your attendance with the registration desk. Please be aware this may have a negative impact on your experience, and we cannot guarantee you access to your ceremony. 

Your ticket will be sent to you via email shortly before your Awards Ceremony day.

Collect your Gown

You will receive a code within 24 hours of your ceremony. Please show this code to the Graduation Attire team and they will collect your gown.  You’ll also be asked for some additional details. This is so we can activate the ‘GradTag’, a chip inside your gown which is used to identify you for a stage photo as well as gown return.

Staff will be available to help you into your gowns and show you how to position the hood.

Take your seats

Graduates will be issued a ticket with a seat number, and those will be sent to you via email close to your Awards Ceremony.  An usher will guide you to your dedicated seat. It’s important to remain in this seat as this is the order that graduates' names will be read as you cross the stage. If you don’t sit in the correct seat, it's possible that another graduate's name will be called as you cross the stage.

Guest seating is unallocated, but our team of friendly ushers will guide you to the next available seats. 

What happens at the Ceremony

A Master of Ceremonies will take to the stage to welcome everyone to the Awards Ceremony and run through any housekeeping.

The Procession Party of Academic Staff will make its way through the Ceremony Hall. The Platform Party will then process into the Ceremony Hall, guided by a mace bearer, before taking their seats on stage.

An esteemed member of the Platform Party, such as the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor, will deliver an opening address. Graduands will be called forward, and your name will be announced, signalling it’s time to cross the stage and doff your hat to the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor and Dean of School.

All students will be photographed as they cross the stage and doff their cap. Your on-stage photos will be available to view and purchase after your ceremony via email. You are also able to visit one of Graduation Attire's photo kiosks to have your on-stage photo printed on the day.

We will also be teaming up with Stage Clip, who will be filming your big moment and will create a personalised video clip of you crossing the stage. These will be available after the ceremonies, directly from Stage Clip.

Once all graduates have the crossed the stage, a Vote of Thanks will be delivered by a graduating student. Some ceremonies will also see an honorary award bestowed. The ceremony will finish with the closing remarks from the Dean of School.

Award Ceremonies are an important and formal occasion, but they are a celebration so please clap, cheer and whoop for your friends. Guests are welcome to bring their cameras to capture your special moment during the ceremony, but we do ask that they make sure they are not obscuring the view of other guests.

The ceremony will be live streamed on the University's Facebook page. You are not permitted to hire your own video company to film the ceremony on your behalf.

Once the ceremony is over, graduates will be led through a guard of honour out of the ceremony.

Please note that the ceremonies are conducted in English with British Sign Language interpretation. 

Photography

You can select your photography packages with Graduation Attire during the main booking process. If you have not pre-booked, you are still able to book photography on the day by visiting the Graduation Attire photography team in the LRV.

Photos will be finalised by the editor and will be sent out up to six to eight weeks after your ceremony. Digital-only images will be sent to you via email with a download link. You will be emailed an additional link to reorder prints of all poses that were taken on the day either physically or digitally. 

Refreshments 

There will be complimentary refreshments available to celebrate with your fellow graduates and guests. 

Merchandise

You’ve got the degree, now buy the t-shirt. We’ve teamed up with the brilliant Campus Clothing to provide an exclusive range of branded Official Graduation Clothing & Gifts. From luxury hoodies and t-shirts with a graduate’s names printed on the back, to graduation bears, mugs, and pin badges. Choose something special to keep as a memento of your graduation – and add extra personalisation so your name stands out from the crowd.

Visit the Campus Clothing stall at your graduation ceremony, where a selection of graduation merchandise will be available to purchase and take away. All stock will be available on a first come, first served basis. You can also place orders for items that you would like personalised at the event.

Alternatively, browse the full range of Graduation Clothing & Gifts at Campus Clothing and order personalised graduation merchandise online for home delivery.

After the Ceremony

Alumni

Our Alumni Relations team will be there to give you the opportunity to have some great informal photos taken.  Our Career Connect team and Postgraduate Study staff will be on hand to offer advice and guidance on next steps.

Certificates

Students can expect their certificates to be issued within 8 weeks of receiving formal notification of their award. Please note that certificates will be posted, but also can be collected on the day of your Award Ceremony.

View our Certificate and Transcript page for further information.

For all UK students, a Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) provides a single comprehensive record of your achievement.  It is an extended digital transcript you can access which contains detailed information about your learning and achievements.

Gown return

Before you leave, please hand in your gown and mortarboard/bonnet at the gowns return point in the foyer of the sports hall.

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

Top 5 for Social Inclusion

The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025

for First Generation Students

The Mail University Guide 2025

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

for Facilities

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Four Star Rating

QS Star Ratings 2021