Graduation
Graduation
This year’s Graduation ceremonies will be held from 24-28 May 2021 at Portsmouth Guildhall.
We'll confirm the exact date and time of your ceremony, within those days, as we get nearer to the event.
The ceremonies were originally due to take place in July 2020 but, unfortunately, are postponed because of the health risks, restrictions and social distancing caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We know this is a disappointment, but the safety of students, staff, friends and family is paramount.
After looking at a range of different options, we hope the impact of the pandemic will have eased considerably by May next year, to allow you to be deservedly recognised for your achievement, meet your university friends again, and celebrate with your family on a warm spring day.
Importantly, only the ceremonies have been postponed, so you will still be awarded your qualification this year with your certificate posted directly to you.
If you have any questions about the ceremonies in the meantime, read our frequently asked questions below or email graduation@port.ac.uk.
We know May 2021 will feel like a long time to wait to mark your achievement. We are therefore planning a number of summer activities, for us to show you how proud we are of your accomplishments as you venture into the world as a Portsmouth graduate. Your Faculty or School will be in touch soon with details.
Graduations are a highlight of the University experience, and we hope you’ll join us in May 2021 to truly celebrate your success.
Graduation FAQs
Your parchment will be sent to you in the post along with your transcript this summer, once all results are confirmed.
Your parchment will be sent to the mailing address shown on your MyPort account, it is therefore important that you check this is correct and update it if needed.
Please check and update the mailing address shown on your MyPort account, as this will be what is used to send your parchment.
Parchments will be posted once the Board of Examiners have sat and the results validated, this is likely to be mid/late August 2020, subject to Government restrictions.
There will be an option for international students to request courier delivery at an additional cost. More details will be sent out at a later date.
Please see our Parchments and Transcripts page. If you have any further questions about parchments please direct these to parchments@port.ac.uk.
Final degree qualifications are expected to be confirmed by the end of July 2020, with second attempts being confirmed by the end of August 2020. The exact date your final degree qualification will be confirmed is likely to differ depending on your Faculty/School. If you have any questions about how this will be calculated or when your confirmation is likely to be please contact your MyPort Hub.
As the ceremony schedule will have to be completely revised for the new dates, it is unlikely we will know the exact schedule until early next year. However we will confirm as soon as we can.
A timeline will be produced and once this is ready we will publicise when ticket bookings will open for the May 2021 ceremonies. We will be in touch over the coming months with more details as we work through our detailed planning activities.
You will need to apply for a visitors visa in order to attend your Graduation. You will be able to request a visa support letter as part of the ticket booking process. We can only produce visa letters for students or guests who have tickets to the Graduation ceremony, therefore we cannot issue any letters earlier than ticket bookings open. If you need any more guidance you can contact the international student advice team via international.student.adviser@port.ac.uk
There will be some virtual celebration activities during the summer and more details of these will be sent out from Faculties/Schools in the next couple of weeks.
In light of the pandemic we will be changing our procedures to allow students to request a deferral if they are not able to make the May 2021 ceremonies. We will be giving students a one month window (we expect that this will be around October 2020) to request a deferral. After this window has closed students with exceptional circumstances will still be able to apply (illness, deployment, etc). Information will be sent out to graduating students nearer the time.
We appreciate that the postponed ceremonies are during next year's assessment period and that some continuing students may find themselves with postgraduate exams at this time. Tickets for the May 2021 ceremonies will be available later this year/early next year for you to book and we will send you more details of this in due course. The exam timetable for next year's assessment period will be sent out in February and should you find yourself with a clash between your exams and your ceremony we would be more than happy to defer you to the July 2021 ceremonies and refund any bookings you have made.
The normal Graduation ceremonies for 2021 will go ahead as planned in July 2021 (subject to any Government restrictions). The May 2021 ceremonies are for those students who would have normally graduated in July 2020.
