Booking your ceremony

Attending a ceremony is an important milestone in your journey with The Open University. It is your day to celebrate your amazing success with family, friends, and fellow graduates, to reflect on your achievements and look forward to your future as a member of the Open University alumni family.

Eligibility to attend a ceremony

At the point you become eligible to attend an Open University ceremony, you will receive an invitation via email. 

Invitations for the spring 2025 ceremony season are due to be sent in the week commencing 6 January 2025.

To be eligible to book ceremony, you must have received an invitation, this will be sent prior to booking opening. All the modules required for your qualification completion must be linked correctly on your student record – to check this, log on to your StudentHome or contact the Qualifications Centre by emailing acc-gen@open.ac.uk. Due to the administrative processes involved in finalising the completion of a qualification, you need to allow a minimum 6-week period between you accepting your qualification offer and the date of your degree ceremony.

Graduates of the following Open University qualifications are eligible to attend one of our degree ceremonies:

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Doctorate in Education (EdD)
• Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
• Master of Research (MRes)
• Master of Arts (MA)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Master of Education (MEd)
• Master of Engineering (MEng)
• Master of Laws (LLM)
• Master of Science (MSc)
• Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work
• Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
• Bachelor of Arts (BA)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng)
• Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc)
• Foundation Degree (FD)
• Diploma of Higher Education (Dip HE)
• Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)

Before you book

The first thing to do is look at our List of ceremonies and decide which ceremony you would most like to attend. Open University students are everywhere, therefore, ceremonies are held throughout England, as well as in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. Ceremonies are held on various days of the week and many dates offer a choice of morning or afternoon ceremonies. As an Open University graduate, you are free to attend any of the ceremonies in our schedule – the choice is up to you!

If you have any questions or concerns about the suitability of a venue for you or your guests, please contact the Ceremonies Centre before making your booking.

When to book

We strongly recommend that you book your preferred ceremony as soon as bookings open to avoid disappointment.

The exact date and time that bookings will open for your chosen ceremony will be detailed in the ‘Booking Information’ notes on the List of ceremonies. If no time or date is listed, please check back later as this information has not yet been confirmed.

Ceremony bookings are subject to availability and are booked on a first-come, first-served basis. As such, we would not recommend you make any non-refundable travel or accommodation arrangements before your booking is placed and confirmed. 

How to book

The easiest way to secure your ceremony place is by booking online.

Ceremony bookings can be made by calling the team however, phone lines are expected to be very busy.

Please note: ceremonies can not be booked via email or webchat.

If you are attending a ceremony for a research qualification (PhD, EdD, MPhil, or MRes) you will be sent a link to book your ceremony. If you have not received this communication by the end of December/July, please contact the Ceremonies Centre. 

Before you make your booking, make sure you know the following...

• the date, time and location of your preferred ceremony
• your personal identifier
• your StudentHome login details
• the number of guest tickets you would like to purchase
• your payment card details

To book online, start at the List of ceremonies page and click the ‘View / Book’ button of your chosen ceremony. Click the ‘Book ceremony’ button on the following page and follow the prompts to log in to your student account and book your ceremony. 

If you cannot see the pink ‘Book Ceremony’ button, try the following troubleshooting steps –

• Make sure you are logged in
• Refresh the webpage
• Clear your cache (then refresh again)
• If you are on a mobile device (phone, tablet, etc.) you may need to scroll further down the webpage to locate the book button

Once you have made your ceremony booking, you can expect to receive a confirmation email within 48 hours. 

Please read the Ceremonies Terms & Conditions before booking. 

Guests & ticket costs

As a graduate, your place at the ceremony is free. When booking, do not include yourself in guest number.

You can bring family and friends to celebrate with you. Tickets for guests aged 4+ are £27.50 each. Children aged 3 or under can attend free of charge but must still be declared in your ceremony booking.

Please see Preparing for your ceremony for information on photography and gowning services.

If you are thinking about bringing children to your ceremony, please be advised that ceremonies can last approximately 1½ - 2 hours and younger guests can sometimes find this difficult. If children are in attendance, we ask that out of consideration to other graduates and guests, they be removed from the hall should they become restless during the speeches.

Please note that due to safeguarding regulations, children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. It is the responsibility of the graduate to ensure that there is an adult guest included in their booking, as graduates are not sat with their guests during the ceremony. Venue staff reserve the right to remove graduates from the ceremony auditorium, should they leave underage children unattended. 

All tickets are subject to availability and are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. All guest tickets are non-refundable once purchased. If you would like to add guest tickets to an existing ceremony booking, please call the Ceremonies Centre to make this request (subject to availability).

Please see List of ceremonies to check the maximum guest allowance per graduate for your chosen ceremony. If you would like to bring more guests than the maximum allowed at the time of booking, please indicate the total number of guests you would like to bring. You will be able to book and pay for the maximum number of guests allowed and remainder will be placed on a guest waiting list. You will be contacted if additional guest tickets become available for you to purchase. 

Additional Requirements

If you or any of your guests have any additional requirements for the ceremony day, please indicate this when making your booking. Additional requirements may include being a wheelchair user, having mobility issues or difficulty negotiating stairs for example.  When the ceremony draws nearer, a member of our Ceremonies team will contact you to request the details of your / your guest’s additional requirement so that we can take these into consideration when making our arrangements for the ceremony day. 

Please be advised that if you require assistance up to and/or across the stage, this will need to be provided by one of your guests. Open University and venue staff are unable to fulfil this role. Please inform the Ceremonies Centre that you’d like your guest to assist you once you have made your booking, so that appropriate seating arrangements can be made.

If you or any of your guests would benefit from a BSL interpreter during the ceremony, please contact the Ceremonies Centre (+44 (0)1908 541079 / ceremonies@open.ac.uk) as soon as possible after making your booking. Whilst we are unable to make any guarantees, we will take steps to try and secure an appropriate interpreter for your ceremony.

If you would like to discuss the suitability of a particular venue or find out what arrangements could be made to consider your / your guest’s additional requirements before making your booking, please contact the Ceremonies Centre and a member of the team will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding this. Note: Please do not wait until bookings open to contact the Centre to discuss venue accessibility. This may delay your booking and all places are subject to availability.

Publication of names & OUSA t-shirts

During the booking process, you will be asked whether you are happy for your name to feature in the Directory of Graduates. This document will be part of the official ceremony programmes which are handed out to graduates and guests on the ceremony day. If you agree for your name to appear, please be advised that it will do so alongside the name of your completed qualification. Please note that if you are booking your ceremony within 4 weeks of the ceremony day, it may not be possible for your name to be included as this document may have already been printed.

When booking your ceremony, you will be asked whether you are happy for your name to feature on the ceremony t-shirts produced by the Open University Student Association (OUSA). These t-shirts will list the names of graduates at your ceremony but will not include any qualification details. They will be available to purchase on the ceremony day from the OUSA merchandise stall. Please note that if you are booking your ceremony within 4 weeks of the ceremony day, it may not be possible for your name to be included, due to production deadlines.