Graduation

For other uses, see Graduation (disambiguation).

Student receiving academic degree from Azim Premji during a Graduation ceremony in ISB. Adi Godrej in the background. Recipient and donors in "convocation dress".

Line of young people at a commencement ceremony. USA, early-20th century.

Student receives diploma from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City.

Graduation hats being tossed by fresh graduates in ISB (Hyderabad, India).

Medical students graduation in Avicenna Mausoleum, Hamedan, Iran.

King's College London graduands wearing academic dresses without caps.

Graduation is the award of a diploma or academic degree, or the ceremony that is sometimes associated with it, in which students become graduates. The date of graduation is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony itself is also sometimes called: commencement, convocation or invocation.

Usually the ceremony and name apply to university degrees (Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees). However, in the United States, completing mandatory schooling is also referred to as graduating, even though it is substantially below degree level. "Graduations" for elementary school and kindergartens, and even for passing from one school year to the next, have been a development of recent years. This has received criticism, being described as "just a way of celebrating mediocrity".

In a graduation ceremony at the college and university level, the presiding officer or another authorised person formally confers degrees upon candidates, either individually or en masse, even though graduates may physically receive their diploma later at a smaller college or departmental ceremony. Ceremonies often include a procession of some of the academic staff and candidates and a valediction. The academic staff will usually wear an academic dress at the ceremony, as will the trustees (if applicable) and the degree candidates. Graduates can be referred to by their year of graduation.

In some places, graduation parties celebrating graduation from school, college or university are popular. In a recent 2014 nationwide survey in the United States, $985 was the average amount spent on graduation parties. When a student graduates without attending the graduation ceremony, then it is called graduation in absentia.

By country

Further information: Academic graduation by country

The procedures and traditions surrounding academic graduation ceremonies differ around the world. Whereas in the United Kingdom a graduation usually only occurs at university level, in the United States of America and many other countries graduations also occur at high schools where no higher education qualifications are conferred upon the graduates. In a graduation ceremony the students wear formal academic dress, such as square academic caps and gowns that are used for such occasions.

Graduation traditions vary across universities observing different cultures.

For example, most universities in Sweden are research-oriented and may present their students with bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees covering all academic streams. Universities across the country are based through the Higher Education Ordinance. Most of the national programs provide Swedish, English, Math and Science among degree courses.

In Zimbabwe, pgraduation ceremonies are often associated with the guest of honor who most often is the ceremonial head of the institution. At state universities the President of Zimbabwe officiates as chancellor and guest of honor. Every graduate of a state university in Zimbabwe can claim to have shaken the President's hand. The person most associated with graduation at those institutions is Zimbabwe's late ex-President Robert Mugabe. At other State Institutions of higher learning the vice Presidents or any other Senior Government officials may preside.

History of graduation

Ceremonies for graduating students date from the first universities in Europe in the twelfth century. At that time Latin was the language of scholarship. A universitas was a guild of masters (such as MAs) with licence to teach. "Degree" and "graduate" come from gradus, meaning "step". The first step was admission to a bachelor's degree. The second step was the masters step, giving the graduate admission to the universitas and license to teach. Typical dress for graduation is gown and hood, or hats adapted from the daily dress of university staff in the Middle Ages, which was in turn based on the attire worn by medieval clergy.

The tradition of wearing graduation hats in Sweden has been in place since the mid-eighteenth century. The cap is typically a white sailor hat with a black or dark blue band around it, a crown motif, and a black peak at the front. The graduation hat tradition was initially adopted by students at Uppsala University. The headgear then became popular across several other European nations as well.

See also

• Academic dress
• Commencement speech
• Encaenia
• High school graduation examination
• Matriculation

External links

• The Stories Behind Graduation Traditions by Ethan Trex, Mental Floss