You are warmly invited to graduate in person at Senate House and to join us for a celebration at College beforehand. You are welcome to invite up to two guests to celebrate with you. Alternatively, you may graduate in absence but please note that you cannot later graduate in person to the same degree.
You must graduate in order to obtain your degree officially, and a degree certificate. You can do this in person or in absence, but in either case Hughes Hall must enter you for a graduation ceremony. If you have completed your course requirements but not graduated, you can still claim to have completed your degree and can obtain a transcript to confirm this.
Ceremonies
Cambridge has two types of graduation ceremony:
- Congregation, held on eight dates throughout the year, for all degrees including MA.
- General Admission, held after the Easter Term, only for BA and related courses (MSci, MEng, MMath). Eligible students will be informed directly.
Apart from General Admission, the university does not specify particular dates for particular degrees, and each college is free to make its own arrangements. The President, Fellows and Senior Members of Hughes Hall would like to celebrate the occasion with you and your guests, so we encourage you to graduate in person on one of the seven dates when we offer a reception or refreshments. However, we recognise that this will not be possible for everyone, so these dates and two others are also available for graduation in absence.
- For information about what happens on the day of the graduation ceremony itself, please see Graduation Day
- To find out what you need to do to graduate, see What You Need To Do
- There are strict regulations on clothing and dress at graduation ceremonies, please see What you need to wear
- For information about Certificates and Transcripts, see Certificates and Transcripts
- See also the list of Frequently Asked Questions about graduation.
Dates
Timings for the day are confirmed at the beginning of the week of the graduation ceremony. If you are making plans in advance, then please set aside the whole day for your graduation.
Please note, where refreshments are available for the college reception, there is a limit of 2 guests per graduand in College and at the Senate House.
| Graduation Date | Application window | College reception | Graduate in person | Graduate in absence |
| Sat 26 Oct 2024 | 1 Aug – 30 Sept | Refreshments | All degrees | All degrees |
| Sat 30 Nov 2024 | 1 Oct – 7 Nov | No | No | All degrees |
| Fri 31 Jan 2025 | 1 Dec – 8 Jan | No | No | All degrees |
| Sat 1 Mar 2025 | 1 Jan – 10 Feb | Refreshments | All degrees | All degrees |
| Sat 5 Apr 2025 | 1 Jan – 28 Feb | Refreshments | All degrees, mainly MA | All degrees |
| Sat 3 May 2025 | 1 Feb – 10 Apr | Refreshments | Mainly MBA and MSt degrees | All degrees |
| Fri 23 May 2025 | 1 Feb – 1 May | Refreshments | Mainly EMBA and MFin | All degrees |
| Sat 5 July 2025 | n/a | Refreshments | BA, MEng/MMath/Msci only | Undergraduate degrees only |
| Sat 26 Jul 2025 | 1 Apr – 30 Jun | Refreshments | All degrees apart from MA conferrals | All degrees |
Hughes Hall will follow the same pattern as above on the equivalent dates in future years, as published on the University website.
Updated 23.7.24