At Manchester Met, yes: the university asks every graduate at a ceremony to wear appropriate academic dress. What that means for your award, how to get it on the day, and what happens if you'd rather not attend.
Yes. Manchester Met's graduation pages put it in one sentence: "You must wear appropriate academic dress at your graduation ceremony." There's no smart-casual version of crossing the stage. What "appropriate" means depends on your award, and the university leaves the detail to its official robe maker, whose booking system picks the right gown and hood once you tell it your ceremony and award. Here's what that looks like, how to get it on the day, and what to do if you'd rather not be there at all.
Academic dress means a gown, a hood and a cap, and your award decides which of each you wear. Manchester Met's robes page shows a separate set for each kind of award, from bachelor's and master's degrees to doctorates, postgraduate certificates and diplomas, certificates and diplomas of higher education, the joint Manchester School of Architecture awards, and higher national diplomas and certificates.
For bachelor's and master's graduates, the hood is the part that's specific to Manchester Met. Each is made for the university and for the level of your award, so borrowing one from a friend at another university, or on a different course level, won't give you the dress the ceremony expects. That's why the robe maker's booking works from your award: get that right and the rest follows.
Academic dress comes with the ceremony, not with the degree. Skip the ceremony and you skip the dress; you graduate all the same, and your certificate arrives by post.
Manchester Met's official supplier is Ede & Ravenscroft. To order through them you enter Manchester Metropolitan University as your institution, choose your ceremony and your award, and the system assigns the robe. There's a booking deadline some weeks ahead of every round, and the university is blunt about missing it: hiring after the deadline, or on the day, "will cost significantly more", and the robe maker may not have the right robe or size left.
If you order official robes, you pick them up in the robing room at The Midland Hotel once you've registered, and hand them back there when the ceremony is over. The university asks you to keep the name label and pin that come with your robe. Orders can be changed or cancelled by signing in to the robe maker's website.
Hiring from us instead? Pick up your gown, hood and cap the night before or first thing on the day, check the fit at home, and arrive at the Midland already robed. You still register there for your seat and your guests' tickets; the robing room is the queue you avoid.
Whichever route you take, decide early. The robe maker's deadline comes weeks before the ceremonies, and the closer the day gets, the fewer sizes are left anywhere.
In term time before the summer ceremonies, the official photographers have run walk-in sessions on campus where a robe is lent to you free for the photographs, and you pay only for the prints. Look out for the dates on the graduation pages if you'd like portraits without the ceremony-day crowds.
Wearing the robes is a condition of the ceremony, nothing more. Your degree doesn't depend on it: Manchester Met says that whether or not you join a ceremony, your degree is valid. If you don't plan to attend, say so through the graduation booking system when your invitation arrives.
Your certificate comes by post either way. The university doesn't hand certificates out at ceremonies; it sends them to the contact address on your student record, and warns that it can take several months. Before you decide, check that address is right in the student portal, and settle any tuition fees you owe, because a certificate is held back until they're paid.
"Regardless of whether you join a ceremony or not, your degree is valid."
— Manchester Metropolitan University
Can't make the day you're given? The university doesn't let graduates choose their own ceremony. In exceptional circumstances, such as illness, bereavement or pregnancy, you can ask the graduation team for an alternative ceremony, and they try to accommodate requests where they can.
Under the gown, Manchester Met asks for formal clothes: a suit, shirt and tie; a skirt or trousers with a shirt or blouse; or a dress, with formal shoes. Traditional and national dress is welcome. The gown hangs open, so the neckline, the hem and your shoes all show.
Two of the university's own tips are worth repeating. A buttoned shirt or blouse helps keep the hood in position. And choose your shoes with care, because crossing the stage means going up a flight of stairs at one side and down the other.
This guide draws on Manchester Met's graduation pages and on its official robe maker's catalogue for the university. Details change from round to round, so look at mmu.ac.uk/graduation for the latest before you order anything.
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