Frequently asked questions

All eligible students will have received an email from UCA on 7 or 8 April.  The email was sent to your UCA and personal email accounts simultaneously, in some instances, the email may go into your spam/junk folder so if you have not yet received the email, please check these folders too.  If after checking you can still not locate the email, please contact events@uca.ac.uk and they will arrange for the relevant team to resend the email to you.

Please see the main graduation page for details of the dates and times of all the ceremonies.

Your student ticket is guaranteed if you complete the registration task.

Guest ticket booking will be on a first come first serve basis and will go on sale from Tuesday 19 May. Due to the ceremony venue capacity, guest tickets will be limited to four tickets. More details will follow once ceremony registration is complete.  

The ceremony is expected to last anything from 90 minutes to two hours so young children may find it tiring.

Any child over the age of four in attendance will require a ticket and there are no child concessions on ticket prices. Children under the age of four must be seated on an adult's lap.

More information will follow regarding guest tickets. You can also find details of the Royal Festival Hall’s specific accessibility information on their website, this information includes planning for your visit as well as accessibility detailed maps of the space.  If you are unable to find the information you need here, please contact events@uca.ac.uk

If any of your guests are from a non-EU country, they will require a visa letter to enter the country. Please inform us of the details of your non-EU resident guests at the time you register to attend graduation. We will arrange for visa letters to be emailed to you as .pdf files for you to either print or use electronically as part of your guest’s visa application.

Please allow one week from the date of submitting your request to receive the letter(s). If you have any questions regarding the contents of your letter(s) for yourself and/or your guests, or need to make any changes to the details that you provided for the letter within your Graduation registration task, please contact the Campus Life team at the campus where you have completed your studies and they will be able to assist you. 

For students attending UCA Graduation from a partner institution, please contact CampusLifeFarnham@uca.ac.uk.

The seats are numbered; students will be sat with their cohort with guests seated separately. Guests will be allocated seats with their party.  Please note, some seats are reserved for academic staff and guests with special needs.

More information will follow regarding guest tickets.  If you have any further queries please email events@uca.ac.uk.

Your ceremony will last anywhere between one and a half hours and two hours depending on the number of honorary degree awards and the number of students processing.

The Graduation Ceremony is a formal occasion. In keeping with this, ALL graduands participating in the ceremony are required to wear a University graduation gown and to dress appropriately.

When selecting your outfit including footwear, you should be aware you will need to walk fairly briskly during your procession to the stage (this walk will involve some stairs).

It is also recommended that you wear a shirt or blouse with buttons to which the hood can easily be attached.

The University for the Creative Arts' supplier for Academic dress is Ede and Ravenscroft. You may order your gown from Monday, 30 March onwards, and all orders must be placed no later than 21 days before the date of your ceremony.

The University for the Creative Arts' supplier for graduation ceremony photography is also Ede and Ravenscroft.

Studios will be set up at each of the registration points on the day of the ceremony.

Please see Gowns & Photography for more information.

The gown itself is black and the hood is a combination of vivid green and grey.

No. They will be sent, via registered mail, to you at your home address (or alternate address if supplied) by the end of August.

Students and guests will receive a complimentary glass of Prosecco.

For information regarding restaurants in the area you may wish to visit the Southbank Centre's Graduation at the Southbank Centre webpage

Please visit the Southbank Centre's Graduation at the Southbank Centre webpage for information about getting to the venue, accessibility, food and drink, and gifts.

We do have a Graduation Bursary which is available to UK undergraduate students graduating in July 2026 who in addition to receiving a tuition fee loan and the maximum maintenance loan to which they’re entitled, also meet one of the following criteria:

• You’re a care experienced student
  Being care experienced means you have spent any amount of time in local authority care, you are adopted but were previously in care, or you have been looked after by family or friends.
• You're an estranged student
  Being estranged from your family means you’ve not had verbal or written contact with them for a significant period of time and this is unlikely to change.
• You're a young carer
  A young carer is someone who is aged 16-25 who cares for a family member or friend with an illness or disability, mental health condition or an addiction.
• You’re a mature student
  A mature student is someone who was aged over 21 at the start of their course
• You’re a lone parent
• You’re from a Black, Asian, Ethnic Minority community
• You have a disability declared to the University
• You live in supported housing or are homeless

The bursary will be £150 to help with the cost of gown hire and photography. If you received a Graduation Bursary for July 2025 but did not graduate, applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

To make an application please complete the:

• Graduation bursary application form

and return with the required evidence by email as below or to your Campus Life hub:

• CampusLifeCanterbury@uca.ac.uk
• CampusLifeEpsom@uca.ac.uk
• CampusLifeFarnham@uca.ac.uk

Applications must be received by 31 May 2026, however the bursary may close earlier should all funds be allocated.