​IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL GRADUANDS

Graduands should take notice of the following BEFORE making travel arrangements for family and friends to attend graduation ceremonies. Advance bookings for flights and accommodation for more than the allocated number of guests, unfortunately will not guarantee additional guest tickets per candidate. Graduands are expected to familiarise themselves with all the relevant information for their graduation. Stellenbosch University sends an e-mail graduation notice to all potential graduands well in advance, and a link to the graduation information webpage will be activated on the bottom half of the SU homepage (www.sun.ac.za) by the beginning of March 2019. 

Seating in the Coetzenburg Centre is limited as Stellenbosch University needs to comply with national legislation and municipal bylaws. The venue may not exceed 3 000 individuals at any given time. For that reason each candidate up to honours level will receive two guest tickets; at masters' level three guest tickets, and four guest tickets for doctoral candidates.

• Additional guests may take up seating in the overflow venues in the Sports Science building where the ceremonies can be followed via live streaming. It there should be seating available in the Coetzenburg Centre at the start of the ceremony, a corresponding number of guests may be transferred from the overflow venues. This cannot, however, be guaranteed as it depends on the actual number of graduates at a particular ceremony.
• Regretably additional guest tickets cannot be issued in advance, but guest without tickets will be able to follow the ceremony from the overflow venues, and if the circumstances at a specific graduation ceremony allow, guests will then be transferred to the Coetzenburg Centre.     
• All guests – even those with admission tickets - arriving after the commencement of a ceremony, will be placed in an overflow venue in the Sport Science building if there is no seating available in the Coetzenburg Centre.
• Preschool children should preferably not attend a graduation ceremony. Parents with babies and toddlers should rather take up seating in one of the overflow venues.
• All children attending a graduation ceremony, even under the age of 12, also require a guest tickets, as the number op individuals (adults and children) in the venue should not exceed 3 000 for safety purposes. A child sitting on a parent's lap therefore also requires a guest ticket.
• If a group of guests including children should arrive without the required number of guest tickets, and the children are too young to go to the overflow venues by themselves, the parents would have to join them in the Sports Science building.

More detailed information regarding the hiring of academic wear, the collection of guest tickets, graduation photographs, receiving a degree in absentia and University accommodation during graduation will be distributed to candidates who are scheduled to graduate in April 2019 in email newsletter from Stellenbosch University early in 2019. ​