E/10.1 Conferral, graduation and academic dress

Policy Owner	Director, Student Administration
Approval Date	21/11/2022
Approval Authority	University Academic Board
Date of Next Review	30/11/2027

10.1.1 Purpose
10.1.2 Application
10.1.3 Roles and responsibilities
10.1.4 Eligibility for conferral of an award and graduation
10.1.5 Conferral of awards
10.1.6 Posthumous awards
10.1.7 Graduation ceremonies
10.1.8 QUT academic dress
10.1.9 Definitions
10.1.10 Delegations
Related Documents
Modification History

A REVISED VERSION OF THIS POLICY HAS BEEN APPROVED, EFFECTIVE 1 JANUARY 2024. ACCESS THE NEW VERSION FROM THE DIGITAL WORKPLACE (QUT STAFF ACCESS ONLY). FOR ANY QUESTIONS RELATING TO THIS POLICY, PLEASE CONTACT THE DIRECTOR, STUDENT ADMINISTRATION.

10.1.1 Purpose

Students are eligible to graduate from an award course upon completion of all course requirements. This policy sets out QUT requirements for determining eligibility to graduate and the requirements for participation in graduation ceremonies, including academic dress standards.

This policy should be read in conjunction with the procedural information provided on the HiQ website (QUT staff and student access only).

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10.1.2 Application

This policy applies to all students in a QUT award course; to QUT graduands, and to members of the University community who participate in graduation ceremonies or other official ceremonial events.

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10.1.3 Roles and responsibilities

Position	Responsibility
University Academic Board (UAB)	approves the QUT Academic Dress Standard (Appendix A) may waive some course requirements for a student/s in exceptional circumstances resulting from course variations beyond the student’s control
Vice-President (Administration) and University Registrar	on delegation from UAB confers awards and medals, including posthumous awards and reports to UAB annually on all awards conferred, including posthumous awards approves conferral and graduation procedures
Research Degrees Committee (RDC)	determines eligibility to graduate for research higher degree students (D/5.3)
Faculty Academic Board	determines course completion requirements for coursework students approves variations to specified unit requirements for individual students (may be delegated to Course Coordinator)
Director, Student Administration	determines eligibility for and recommends conferral of posthumous awards and certificate of achievement manages the conferral process oversees QUT graduation ceremonies
Senior Ceremonies Manager	ensures the appropriate dress standard is worn by all participants at ceremonies has authority to advise participants that where their dress does not conform with QUT Academic Dress Standards as set out in this policy they will be ineligible to participate in the graduation ceremony

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10.1.4 Eligibility for conferral of an award and graduation

Students are eligible to graduate from an award course upon completion of all course requirements. Course requirements may include completion of a required number of credit points and successful completion of particular units identified in the course structure.

Faculty academic boards may approve variations to specified unit requirements for individual students and this authority may be delegated to course coordinators.

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10.1.5 Conferral of awards

Awards are conferred by the Vice-President (Administration) and University Registrar under delegated authority from University Academic Board (subject to a requirement to consult with the Chair of University Academic Board on any recommendation outside of existing policies and standards).

Student Administration is responsible for assigning levels of honours or awards with distinction to students in relevant courses (C/5.2.5, C/5.2.6 QUT grading), and any issues impacting on this determination for an individual student are resolved in consultation with faculties.

Research Degrees Committee provides the names of eligible research higher degree graduands and citations, as appropriate, to the Vice-President (Administration) and University Registrar. For PhD and other doctoral award candidates, following confirmation from the Registrar that the awards will be conferred, graduands will be advised that they may use the title of ‘Doctor’.

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10.1.6 Posthumous awards

Coursework degrees

The University may award a coursework degree posthumously if the student at the time of death was enrolled in units which, if successfully completed, would have completed the course requirements for the award.

In the event that a student was at an earlier stage of the course, the University may award a certificate of achievement.

The Student Administration Department determines whether the student falls into either category. In either case, following consultation with the Faculty, the Student Administration Department will recommend to the Vice-President (Administration) and University Registrar that the posthumous award or certificate of achievement be granted.

Research higher degrees

The University may award a research higher degree posthumously where the candidate was enrolled at the time of death. The posthumous award may be recommended where:

at the time of death, the candidate had submitted a thesis for examination, or for review at the appropriate final candidature milestone and the faculty considers that, had the student lived, they would have satisfactorily completed the award; or
the faculty provides evidence that, at the time of death, the candidate had completed sufficient research, supported by verifiable evidence, to give a reasonable expectation that they would have successfully completed an award by research. Verifiable evidence could include:

research work
papers and publications
literature reviews, or
other tangible research related outputs.

If necessary, external academic opinion may be obtained on the candidate’s work.

In either case, a recommendation is made by Research Degrees Committee through the Student Administration Department to the Vice-President (Administration) and University Registrar, that an award or certificate of achievement be conferred posthumously.

Presentation of posthumous award

In the case of a posthumous award, the deceased's name will be included in the conferral list and their family will be given the opportunity to attend a graduation ceremony if they wish, at which the award will be presented to the family or their nominee.

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10.1.7 Graduation ceremonies

Course requirements must be completed by a date determined by the Director, Student Administration, for the graduand to be guaranteed a place at the relevant ceremony.

Double degree graduands will be allocated a graduation ceremony as follows:

Double degrees including a justice component are allocated to a ceremony for the School of Justice within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice. This includes Law/Justice double degrees.
Double degrees including a law component are allocated to a ceremony for the School of Law within the Faculty of Business and Law. This excludes Law/Justice double degrees.
Double degrees including an education component are allocated to a ceremony for the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice.
Double degrees including a business component are allocated to a ceremony for the non-business degree.
Double degrees including an honours component are allocated to a ceremony for the honours degree (excluding justice and law/justice students).
All other double degrees are allocated to a ceremony for the first named degree in the course.

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10.1.8 QUT academic dress

Students and staff must wear appropriate academic dress when participating in QUT graduation ceremonies and other ceremonial events.

The QUT academic dress standard will:

use designs to denote different levels of scholastic achievement
prescribe robes to be worn by the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor and President, and other significant University positions.

The QUT Academic Dress Standard is at Appendix A.

The following rules apply for graduation ceremonies or when academic dress is worn at other University events, unless the Vice-Chancellor and President determines otherwise:

members of the University (other than graduands attending a graduation ceremony) wear the academic dress of their highest qualification as prescribed by the awarding institution, provided that when such a member holds two qualifications of the same level the member wears the academic dress of only one of the awards
at a graduation ceremony graduands must only wear the academic dress of the award they are receiving at that ceremony. Graduands who already hold an academic award (whether from the University or from another institution) may not wear the academic dress of that award
at a graduation ceremony graduands who are receiving two or more awards must wear the academic dress of only one of those awards, such that graduands wear the academic dress of the highest award being received; and where a graduand is receiving two awards at the same level, the graduand wears the academic dress of only one of the awards, as allocated, for the duration of the ceremony.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stoles

In addition to the prescribed QUT academic dress Indigenous students who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander may choose to wear an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stole to recognise their cultural heritage.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stoles acknowledge the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to play within the QUT community. The design of the stoles and their colours are reflective of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. Further details are available in Appendix A - QUT Academic Dress Standard.

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10.1.9 Definitions

An award course is a structured and coherent set of units or thesis components that leads to the award of a qualification accredited by QUT.

Conferral is the process by which a degree or certificate is formally awarded to a student who is then entitled to receive an official academic award document (E/10.2).

Graduation is the ceremony at which the student is formally and ceremonially conferred with their degree and receives their award parchment (in person or in absentia).

Graduand is a student who has completed all of the course requirements of an award course but has not yet had the award conferred (awarded) by the University.

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10.1.10 Delegations

Refer to Register of Authorities and Delegations (C135, C136, C139) (QUT Staff access only).

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Modification History

Date	Sections	Source	Details
21.11.22	All	University Academic Board	Revised policy
26.07.21	E/10.1.8, Appendix A	University Academic Board	Revised policy to update academic dress standard for awards resulting from 'Repositioning QUT for a post-COVID world' reorganisation (approved executively by chair, University Academic Board 15.01.21)
14.09.18	All	University Academic Board	Revised and simplified policy to incorporate content from rescinded policy E/10.3 Academic dress and new appendix QUT Standard of academic dress
13.11.15	All	University Academic Board	Revised policy
23.11.12	All	University Academic Board	Revised policy to reflect minor changes to business processes and organisational responsibilities
14.11.08	All	University Academic Board	Revised to include procedure for conferring awards with distinction and with honours (formerly C/3.5.4 and C/3.6.3) and University medals (formerly E/10.4.4), and to clarify the process for conferring posthumous awards
04.04.08	E/10.1.1	University Academic Board	Revised policy – effective from 01.01.09 (endorsed by Academic Policy and Procedures Committee 10.03.08)
12.10.07	E/10.1.1, E/10.1.3	University Academic Board	Revised policy relating to conferral of doctoral awards and use of the title of “Dr” (endorsed by Research Degrees Committee 06.08.07 and University Research and Innovation Committee 05.09.07)
24.03.06	E/10.1.1, E/10.1.3	University Academic Board	Updated policy consistent with delegation of authority to the Registrar to confer awards
15.06.05	All	Student Business Services Department	Policy reviewed - no change required (endorsed by Academic Policy and Procedures Committee 15.06.05)
19.11.04	E/10.1.4	University Academic Board	Revised policy to provide for the awarding of research higher degrees posthumously (endorsed by University Research and Development Committee 12.11.2004)
14.11.03	All	University Academic Board	New policy (effective from 01.01.2004)

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