About graduation
Graduating from the University of Melbourne is a great achievement – congratulations. As you celebrate this milestone, be proud of what you've achieved and look forward to the future.
Find out how graduation works:
- Graduation eligibility
- Steps to graduate
- Conferral
- Ceremony invitations
- Getting ready for your ceremony.
Graduation eligibility
There are two types of eligibility to know about:
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Conferral is when the University formally awards your qualification and recognises you as a graduate.
To be eligible, you must complete your course and meet all academic requirements. Once your results are final and published in my.unimelb, the Graduation Team will contact you about your conferral.
- Conferrals take place at the end of each month
- You will receive an email confirming your conferral
- Once you've received your conferral email, you may be able to defer your conferral
- On your conferral date, you’ll get access to your digital graduation certificate (testamur), transcript, and AHEGS (Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement) in My eQuals
- Your physical certificate (testamur) will be mailed the month after your conferral date
- Read more about conferral.
Once your degree is officially conferred, you are a graduate of the University. You will get access to your digital graduation documents, and a physical graduation certificate (testamur) will be sent to you in the month following your conferral date.
Check if your course is complete:
- Go to the Study Plans page in my.unimelb
- See if your course is marked as 'Completed'.
If your course isn't showing as completed, it could be because you still have interim results (like WAF, WXT, SPE, SUP). Your course can't be marked as complete until all results are in. If you think you’ve met all requirements but can’t see your course completion, check the Help and support information or contact Stop 1.
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A graduation ceremony is an optional event for eligible graduates to celebrate their achievement. Your eligibility to attend a ceremony is based on your award:
Bachelor, master, PhD and higher doctoral students
- You will be invited to attend the next graduation ceremony after your degree has been formally conferred. Read the conferral and graduation ceremonies information below for more details.
Graduate certificate and graduate diploma students
- There are no ceremonies held for graduate/professional certificate or graduate diploma awards
- Faculty of Fine Arts and Music students might have different ceremony plans. You’ll be contacted directly with more information once your degree is conferred.
Steps to graduate
Understand the steps, from completing your degree to attending a ceremony.
- Complete your degree
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Find out when results are out, where to access them and how to understand your grades.
- Receive your graduation ceremony invitation
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Invitations start being sent approximately five weeks prior to the ceremony round commencing.
You'll receive an invitation if you are on track to complete your degree this semester and all of your results are finalised by the deadline, or if your degree has already been conferred.
- RSVP to your graduation invitation
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You will receive an email with your ceremony invitation which contains your ceremony date and time and the steps you need to follow to submit your RSVP.
- Conferral of your degree
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Conferrals occur at the end of each month. If it hasn't already, your degree will be conferred before the ceremony. The Graduation team will email you to confirm. There will be no conferrals at the graduation ceremonies.
- Graduation fees, tickets and gown hire
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You will receive an email when the booking service opens.
- Attend your ceremony
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You’ll get key tips on how to access your tickets, how to collect regalia and your event timings before the ceremony!
Conferral process
See below for information on how to prepare for your conferral, where to find conferral dates, and award-specific details about confirming or deferring your conferral.
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Check your formal name is correct
Your formal name will appear on the following formal documents:
- Graduation certificate (Testamur)
- Verify a Qualification webpage.
To change your name or its order on your graduation certificate (testamur)
- Submit a Change of personal details request by the deadline
- Check your address details, your graduation certificate (testamur) will be sent to this address
- Check your address in ‘Contact’ tab of my.unimelb
- If you need to update your address details, please follow the updating contact details instructions.
Pay any outstanding fees, debt or fines
- You must pay any outstanding fees, debt or fines to be eligible for conferral
- If you have a sanction, you will get a notification. It will show up in my.unimelb and you need to resolve it before the deadline.
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Conferral dates usually take place at the end of each month.
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- You will be automatically conferred in the next round after you complete your course
- You’ll receive an email confirming your conferral date, which will appear on your certificate
- Deferral is not available for these awards.
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- You’ll receive an email confirming your conferral date.
- If you don’t want to defer, no action is needed. Your conferral will go ahead on the scheduled date and cannot be changed.
- If you want to defer, follow the instructions in the email. As long as you have received your conferral email, you can also defer before the deadline by going to the ‘Graduations’ tab in my.unimelb and selecting 'Update my conferral preference'.
If you defer:
- No supporting evidence is required
- Your conferral can be delayed for up to 12 months from your completion date
- The Graduations Team will contact you near the end of your deferral period to confirm your new conferral date.
- To request an earlier conferral round, check the conferral dates. Then, contact the Graduations team directly.
Please note: You must check your student email regularly or set up forwarding to ensure you don’t miss your conferral email.
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- You will receive an email with instructions to confirm or defer your conferral before the deadline.
- As long as you have received your conferral email, you can also confirm or defer before the deadline by going to the ‘Graduations’ tab in my.unimelb and selecting 'Update my conferral preference'.
If you defer:
- Your conferral can be delayed for up to 12 months from your completion date
- The Graduations Team will contact you near the end of your deferral period to confirm your new conferral date
- If you do not respond to this email, your degree will continue to be deferred until you respond or until near the end of the 12 month period, whichever applies first
- To request an earlier conferral round, check the conferral dates. Then, contact the Graduations Team directly
- If you don't respond by the deadline, your conferral qualification documents, and graduation ceremony are automatically deferred for 12 months.
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If you are conferred in December and are attending a graduation ceremony:
- You will get a physical copy of your graduation certificate (testamur) at your ceremony.
If you are conferred in December but are not attending a graduation ceremony:
- A physical copy of your graduation certificate (testamur) will be posted to you in the month following your conferral
- Visit the conferral dates page for more details on postage timings
- The Graduations team will email you a tracking number once your physical testamur has been posted.
Read more about receiving your graduation certificate below.
Graduation ceremonies
Graduation ceremonies are a formal celebration of your achievement and take place after conferral.
PhD and doctoral students: Please note that some faculties hold dedicated ceremonies with limited capacity – your invitation will confirm the details.
Ceremony invitations
If you're eligible, you’ll receive an email invitation to attend the next available graduation ceremony after your degree has been conferred.
Check your student email regularly or set up forwarding to ensure you don’t miss your invitation.
When you'll receive your ceremony invitation
- Semester 1, 2026 completion: invitations will be sent on Tuesday 14 July and Monday 20 July 2026
- Semester 2, 2026 completion: invitations will be sent on Wednesday 4 November and Wednesday 18 November 2026
Please note:
- You must respond to your ceremony invitation before the RSVP deadline
- If you miss the deadline, you will be unable to attend the ceremony and will not be automatically invited to future ceremonies.
Before you book travel
Do not book travel until you’ve received an invitation and confirmation of your response to attend via email with final ceremony date and time. The University may adjust the ceremony schedule at any time.
Please note:
- The Graduations team does not send invitation letters to guests. Invitations are only sent to graduating students
Attendance options
Attending your graduation ceremony is optional.
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- Respond to your ceremony invitation to confirm that you wish to attend your graduation ceremony
- After registering your response, you will receive an email confirmation after the RSVP deadline has passed
- Please do not book travel until you have received confirmation of your ceremony date and time via email
- About a week before your ceremony, you will receive an email to pay the graduation fee and book tickets for your graduation.
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- Respond to your ceremony invitation to confirm that you will not attend your ceremony, or any future ceremony for your degree.
Please note, if you do not respond by the deadline, it will be assumed that you are not attending a ceremony in the current or future rounds.
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- Respond to your ceremony invitation to confirm that you would like to postpone.
Please note:
- You may postpone your graduation to the next ceremony round
- You are only able to postpone your graduation ceremony to up to a year from your conferral date
- If you choose to postpone your ceremony, you will receive a new invitation to attend another ceremony approximately six weeks prior to the next ceremony round
- Check your student email regularly or set up forwarding to ensure you don’t miss your invitation.
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If you are a bachelor or masters student going straight from your bachelors degree to your honours year, you can postpone your ceremony attendance.
- Respond to your ceremony invitation to confirm that you would like to postpone for honours
- Once you have completed your honours year, you will receive another invitation to graduate
- If you're unsure whether you will be studying honours, you should accept your invitation to graduate
- If you get accepted into honours, you can submit an enquiry to notify the Graduations team that you wish to postpone your ceremony.
How to respond to your invitation
- Look for the link in your email invitation
- Click on the button to RSVP
- Follow the instructions to confirm whether you would like to attend, not attend or postpone.
PhD and higher doctoral supervisor invitations
The Graduations team will contact PhD and higher doctoral students. If you’d like your supervisors to attend your ceremony, please share their details.
If you provide your supervisors details, we will invite them to attend your ceremony as either:
- a seated guest
- or as a part of the academic procession.
If your supervisor has not received an invitation by the week before your ceremony, contact the Graduations team
Please keep your supervisors informed if you request any late changes to your ceremony date or are unable to attend.
More graduation information
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Graduation day
Schedules, venue and guest information to help you prepare.
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Graduation fees, tickets and gown hire
Know when bookings open and what’s included.
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Photos and merchandise
Explore what’s available at your ceremony.
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Graduation ceremony recordings
Share your celebration with friends and family.
Help and support
Conferral
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You can request a deferral before the deadline outlined in your conferral email that you will receive when you complete your course. Go to the ‘Graduations’ tab on your my.unimelb account and select defer.
If you choose to defer:
- You do not need to provide evidence
- Your conferral will automatically be deferred for 12 months from your course completion date.
Please note it is not possible to be conferred on a date that is not published on the conferral date page.
Deferral is recommended only if:
- You are applying for further study that requires recent conferral
- Your employment requires a particular conferral date
Otherwise, it is best to confer your degree as early as possible to:
- Officially confirm your qualification
- Receive your testamur (certificate) and academic transcripts.
Need more help?
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Bachelor and master students will be conferred in absentia if no response is received to their graduation options email. The University is unable to revoke conferral once the conferral date has lapsed.
PhD and higher doctorate students must RSVP their conferral preference otherwise it would result in an automatic 12 month deferred conferral from your course completion date if no response is received.
Need more help?
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On your conferral date, you’ll receive access to your:
- Digital graduation certificate (testamur)
- An updated academic transcript that lists your award
- AHEGS (Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement) via My eQuals.
If you are conferred in July or December and plan to attend your graduation ceremony, you will get a physical copy of your graduation certificate (testamur) at your ceremony.
If you are conferred outside these dates or you do not attend a graduation ceremony, we will send your graduation certificate (testamur) to you by post in the month after your conferral.
Visit the conferral dates page for more details on postage timings
Please note:
- In-person collection of certificates at Stop 1 is not available
- Certificates will be posted to your preferred address.
To ensure correct delivery:
- Update your ‘contact’ or ‘home’ address in my.unimelb
- Mark the correct address as ‘preferred'
The Graduations team will email you a tracking number once your testamur has been posted as per the timelines on the conferral dates webpage.
Need more help?
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After results are released, you can download a free evidence of qualification from my.unimelb.
This document is helpful for:
- Job applications
- Further study applications
- It shows that you have completed your degree but does not include a conferral date until your degree is officially conferred.
On your conferral date, we’ll send you an updated transcript that lists your award and your official testamur with your conferral date.
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If you're not sure that you've completed or enrolled in the required subjects to satisfy your course completion, you can view the Handbook
and your Study Plan to check your course requirements If you require clarification, or need assistance getting back on track, you can speak with a specialist Course Planner
to discuss your course progression. Need more help?
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Each graduation ceremony round has a final results deadline. By this date, all your final subject results must published and passed for you to be eligible to graduate.
For the upcoming August graduation ceremonies, the deadline is 5pm AEST Friday 10 July.
If you have any interim or pending subject results after this date, you will not be able to graduate in August.
Interim or pending results include:
- Interim result grades (SPE, SUP, WAF, or WXT)
- Outstanding special or supplementary assessments (unless declined by the deadline)
- Delayed results due to assessment extensions
- Pending outcomes from misconduct hearings
- Uncleared sanctions that prevent results from being released
- Non-standard study period subjects with results released after 5 August.
If you miss out on the August ceremonies, we'll invite you to graduate in the next ceremony round you are eligible for.
Need more help?
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Your Bachelor degree and Honours year are treated as separate awards.
Your Bachelor degree should be conferred at the first available opportunity after completion.
You can either:
- Attend a graduation ceremony after your Bachelor degree is conferred, or
- Wait until you complete your Honours year to attend a ceremony
Need more help?
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Graduates of the following programs will have ‘with distinction’ printed on their testamur if eligible:
- Master of Engineering (all specialisations)
- Master of Environment
- Master of Computer Science
- Master of Information Systems
- Master of Information Technology
- Master of Science (all listed streams)
- Doctor of Dental Surgery
- Doctor of Physiotherapy
- Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
More information about testamurs can be found on the Academic transcripts and statements page.
Need more help?
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Before 2013, students had to respond to a graduation invitation to have their degree conferred.
If no response was provided, the degree was not automatically conferred.
Since 2013, degrees are automatically conferred in absentia if there is no response.
If you're unsure whether your degree was conferred:
- Use the Verification of Qualification service, or
- Submit an enquiry to the Graduations Office below.
Need more help?
Graduation ceremonies
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Conferral: The Conferral is the date your course is officially complete, and you become a graduate of The University of Melbourne. Your conferral date is listed on your official Graduation documentation. This process takes place before the Graduation ceremony and occurs automatically on set dates. You won't be able to attend a Graduation ceremony unless you have been officially conferred.
Graduation Ceremony: The Graduation ceremony is the date the University holds a public celebration of the successful completion of your course. It marks a significant milestone in your academic journey, providing you with an opportunity to celebrate with your friends, family and peers.
Need more help?
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After you've received your final results and completed your course, you'll receive an email confirming your official conferral date (this date will appear on your testamur).
After your degree has been conferred, you'll be invited to the next available in-person graduation ceremony. You can view the current graduation schedule here.
Please note, Stop 1 can’t confirm the date of your conferral or graduation ceremony until it has been made available by the Graduations team. Stop 1 also can’t confirm when you’ll graduate if you haven’t completed your course yet.
Need more help?
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It's not possible to join a Graduation ceremony after the deadline to RSVP to your invitation. However, you can request to be included in the next ceremony round if you haven’t already postponed your attendance at a ceremony for more than 12 months. Please submit an enquiry to the Graduations team to request an invitation to the next ceremony round.
View Ceremony dates.
Need more help?
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If you have RSVP'ed to attend an in-person graduation ceremony, you will be emailed by our Graduations team in the lead-up to your ceremony with further details on how to book your tickets and regalia. Please continue to monitor your student and personal inbox for this correspondence.
Need more help?
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Due to limited availability, these tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Once any extra allocation is exhausted, there will be no more tickets available. Find out more about graduation fees and tickets here.
You can book these tickets online via the Reed Graduations website.
Need more help?
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You’re unable to change your Graduation ceremony date once you’ve been allocated to a ceremony. However, you can:
Postpone your attendance:
Respond to your invitation link before the RSVP deadline to postpone your ceremony for up to one year. If you miss the deadline or need to change your response later, you can submit an enquiry to the Graduations team.
Please be aware of the specific Graduation ceremony rounds, as you may not be able to postpone your ceremony an additional time.
Exceptional Circumstances:
If you have exceptional circumstances for why your ceremony date needs to be changed, you can submit an enquiry to the Graduations team for consideration. Please note, reasons such as employment, study, or wishing to attend the same ceremony as friends will not be considered.
Refund for Non-Attendance:
If you don't attend the ceremony on your registered date and have purchased tickets, you will automatically receive a refund if you don't check in on the day of your graduation. Please allow 5 business days after the final ceremony of the graduation round for your refund to be processed. Any additional guest tickets purchased are not eligible for a refund.
Need more help?
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Please submit an enquiry to the Graduations Office below to request a change to your ceremony attendance response.
Please note that if the deadline has passed to secure your place in a ceremony, it may not be possible to change your response in order to attend.
Need more help?
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You must have your degree officially conferred before being eligible to attend a graduation ceremony.
If your conferral has been deferred, you will not receive a graduation ceremony invitation until that conferral happens.
Please submit an enquiry to the Graduations team below to have your degree conferred.
Conferral dates usually take place at the end of each month.
Need more help?
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The Graduations team does not send invitation letters to guests. Invitations are only sent to graduating students.
For further assistance, contact Stop 1.
Need more help?
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If your visa is not granted in time, you can submit an enquiry up to one day before the ceremony to cancel your attendance.
If you’ve already paid the ceremony fee, your payment will be automatically refunded after the graduation ceremony round concludes.
Need more help?