Examination and Graduation
All decisions relating to student grading and awards of Diplomas and MSc will be made by Senate on the recommendation of the Examinations Board.
Once you submit your dissertation, arrangements are made for examination. It is important at this time to inform the Student Office of your current postal and email address in case you need to be contacted for any reason. Once your dissertation has been examined, you will be notified of the outcome. The examiners will make one of the following recommendations:
- that the Masters degree be awarded – sometimes after minor typographical changes;
- that no degree be awarded but that you be permitted to resubmit by a specified date on one subsequent occasion;
- that no degree be awarded and you be not permitted to resubmit; in such a case, if your course has provision for the award of a Postgraduate Diploma, you may receive this award.
If the award of a degree is recommended by the examiners, this award will be made formally at the next meeting of the Awards Committee which meets several times in each semester. Following the Committee which approves your award, you will receive a letter of confirmation and an invitation to attend the Congregation (graduation) ceremony usually in December. If the examiners recommend that no degree be awarded, you may ask for your case to be reviewed in accordance with procedures approved by Senate. A copy of these procedures may be obtained from your Student Office or from Section IV of the Calendar which can be accessed here.
An award is only made if the student has no tuition-related debt. Those with debts will have their award witheld and may not be eligible for graduation or enrolment on any other programme at the University of Southampton. Once the debt is cleared, the award will be made at the next available date (usually the following month). Full details can be found on the University Calendar http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/fees.html.
Arrangements for Congregations are made by the Graduation Office (George Thomas Building 37). The Graduation Office will contact you during the term prior to your Graduation with information on dress, gown hire and other arrangements. It is important that you reply promptly to the Graduation Office stating whether or not you will be attending, and whether you require guest tickets. Whilst the Graduation Office will do its best to accommodate late requests due to unforeseen circumstances, it is not always possible to do so.
Please ensure your “graduation email address” is up to date on “Your Student Record” which can be accessed via SUSSED.
Certificates and final transcripts are arranged by the awards office, contactable on certs@soton.ac.uk .