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Congregation ceremony
This page contains everything you need to know to prepare for your ceremony, from invitations and registering, to hiring your gown, all the way through to your special day.
Follow the steps to prepare for your ceremony, including hiring your gown.
What you need to do when you first arrive for your ceremony.
What to expect during your ceremony.
Guidance on what to do after your ceremony.
The date you will be graduating in November is now live!
You must register, even if you are not attending or if you think you may not complete successfully. Please note if you do not register for your ceremony on Tempest you will be automatically conferred in absentia and will not be able to attend a ceremony in the future.
Your options are to:
You will need to register your attendance on Tempest to let us
know whether you will graduate in absentia, defer your ceremony or attend.
Please note your space at the ceremony is not guaranteed until you register. We advise that you complete this as soon as we notify you as there is a capacity limit in the Cathedral.
If this limit is reached before the registration deadline then your ceremony will automatically be closed and you may not be able to attend in July, but can choose to defer your ceremony to a future date.
Registration opens: 21 September
Deadline: 22 October
Extra tickets are not guaranteed for every ceremony and should not be relied upon when making plans to attend your ceremony.
Once the initial registration deadline has passed, then the numbers of tickets remaining for the ceremonies will be assessed.
All registered and attending students will then be advised via email of a date and time that additional tickets would be available.
These would be sold online on a first-come, first-served basis.
They are priced at £30.00 per ticket.
We understand that you may need to change your booking for your graduation.
All requests for refunds from Tempest Ticketing or the Graduate Gowning Company will be accepted up until 1 week prior to your graduation ceremony. This includes your graduation fee, additional tickets and gown hire fee.
After this time, refunds will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances. Requests should be emailed to congregations@kent.ac.uk and these will be reviewed. We reserve the right to refuse refund requests which could have been made prior to the deadline.
If you have booked for your ceremony, but then are no longer eligible to graduate either due to not completing your course in time or an outstanding debt then we will refund your booking for the ceremony automatically.
In order to attend the ceremony some students or their guests may require a visa letter to support visa applications.
Opens: 20 September
Deadline: 18 October
Some outstanding financial commitments to the University may prevent you from graduating.
You will receive further information from the Income Office, but if you have not cleared an outstanding debt by Friday 20 October, then you will not be able to attend your ceremony in July.
You will need to ensure your legal name is correct on KentVision as this is how it will appear on your certificate.
If your name is incorrect, you will need to contact Central Student Administration to amend this for you.
Deadline: 22 October
You will need to hire a gown for your ceremony through our supplier: the Graduate Gowning Company.
Deadline: 12 November
If you or your guests have any access requirements, you will need to let us know no later than 3 weeks prior to your ceremony, we can ensure that arrangements are in place for you.
Deadline: 4 November
If you wish to opt out of having your name name included in the on the day printed Programme, or on the Campus Clothing merchandise then you must notify us in writing by 20 October.
Keep an eye out for an invitation from your Division to the post or pre graduation celebration receptions, which are an opportunity for you to celebrate on the day with your cohort and staff members from your School.
Please note that your certificate will not display on Digital Certificates until you have had your ceremony in November.
Once all degrees and awards have been conferred in November, you will be able to view your certificate online.
You can create a new account now so that there are no delays once your certificate has been conferred. Follow the steps on the web page linked below to gain access to your certificate online.
You will be advised by your Division when you will receive your final results as this will be different between Schools and courses.
If you receive your results and you would like to make an academic appeal, please follow the steps available here.
Please note that in some scenarios undertaking an academic appeal (either informal or formal) may impact your ability to graduate in the ceremony to which you have been invited, and you may need to defer your ceremony until a later date.
We are incredibly proud of your accomplishments and cannot wait to celebrate with you in 2023 in the settings of Canterbury and Rochester Cathedrals.
This next section explains what to expect on the day of your ceremony.
If you are graduating in Canterbury, your ceremony takes place in Canterbury Cathedral. If you are graduating in Rochester this will take place in Rochester Cathedral.
There are lots of places to park when attending a graduation ceremony, however Canterbury and Rochester will be busy at this time. We recommend checking out the parking in advance and leave plenty of time for travel and parking. The train stations in Canterbury are Canterbury West and Canterbury East, and the nearest in Rochester is Rochester Station.
Canterbury Cathedral is sited within the pedestrian zone and there is restricted access controlled by security bollards, you may not be able to drop guests off by car at the Cathedral via the Christ Church gate.
Please ensure you collect your gown no later than 2 hours before your ceremony start time.
Gown collection location: TBC (Canterbury), The Corn Exchange (Rochester)
You will need to bring your
E-Receipt with you, which is an email that has been sent to you containing
barcodes. This will be sent to you around a week before your graduation ceremony.
Please note, your guests will not be able to enter the Cathedral without the hard copy of their ticket.
Ticket collection location: TBC (Canterbury), The Corn Exchange (Rochester)
There will be an opportunity for official photographs taken by Tempest Photography. If you do not have time to take a photo before your ceremony, then you can also take these afterwards.
Locations: TBC (Canterbury), The Corn Exchange (Rochester)
Guest seating will begin 1 hour before your ceremony time, via the main entrance to Canterbury Cathedral, the South West Door which is opposite the Christ Church Gate entrance.
Please note that guests often being queuing 90 minutes prior to the ceremony start time.
Seating in the Cathedral is not pre-allocated to ticket holders, so seats are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Graduate check in opens 90 minutes before the ceremony start time.
Graduands must go to check in and must arrive no later than 1 hour before.
Graduands will be lined up by our teams, ready to process into the Cathedral at 45 minutes before your ceremony start time. At this point, your guests will already be seated.
Graduand Check in location: Chapter House, within the Cathedral Precincts (Canterbury) Corn Exchange (Rochester).
At the Graduate Check-in staff members will guide you through your pocession into the Cathedral.
You will be organised in the order that your names will be read out during the ceremony, it is important to listen to our staff members and stay where placed to avoid the wrong name being read out when crossing the stage.
Once your name has been read, you will walk across the
stage to be greeted by the Presiding Officer, continuing to exit the stage across the other side. Following
this, you will be guided to your seat to watch the remainder of the ceremony.
You can watch the ceremonies live on YouTube. Livestream links will be shared closer to the time.
Please share your images and videos of your special day with us on social media using #KentGrads.
Our communications team will be sharing updates on the day on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Our University photographer will be following your journey around the Cathedral grounds and we will share these photos with you after the ceremony on Flickr.
