Admission tickets and arrival time

Arrival time

The venue doors will open one hour before the ceremony starts. We kindly ask that both you and your guests be seated at least 45 minutes before the start of the ceremony. All graduates should proceed directly to the Coetzenburg Centre. Ensure that you have your hired academic attire with you. Your admission ticket will include your allocated seat number, and you will find your announcement card on your assigned seat.

Admission tickets

Set number of tickets available.
The Coetzenburg centre’s population certificate stipulates the maximum number of people allowed in the venue at any given time. As this is a legal requirement, the University can only issue a set number of tickets per graduand:

• Undergraduate and honours graduands may invite two guests.
• Master’s graduands may invite three guests.
• Doctoral graduands may invite four guests.

As we cannot issue any additional tickets, we invite family and friends to follow the ceremony online at www.sun.ac.za/streaming.

Ticket scheduling

Please note that your admission tickets (your own and your guests’ tickets) will be emailed to your official @sun.ac.za inbox on Thursday 20 March. Please also check your junk mail folder. If the email does not arrive, you can still collect your tickets at the information kiosk at the Coetzenburg Centre on the day of your ceremony.

If you have indicated that you will be graduating in absentia, you will still receive your tickets by email, should you change your mind.

Tickets can be printed or saved to cell phones and must be shown at the door. Note that this arrangement applies to both graduands and guests.

‘Ticket dealing’ prohibited
If you will not be attending your graduation ceremony, please do not sell, transfer or otherwise pass on your tickets to another graduand or guest, as this is strictly prohibited. Doing so will expose you to disciplinary action in terms of the Student Disciplinary Code and will result in the additional tickets being cancelled.

Venue etiquette

Let’s work together to ensure that all our graduands and their guests have the best possible experience:

1. Please arrive on time. Late arrivals, even those with admission tickets, may be denied access to the venue.
2. Afford all our graduands and their guests a chance to celebrate by remaining seated until the end of the ceremony.
3. Please bring only unflavoured water into the venue, and no food or other beverages.
4. Graduation ceremonies are lengthy and can be tiring for preschoolers. We encourage you to make alternative arrangements for the care of small children. If this is not possible, please remember that every person who enters the venue, including preschoolers, must have a ticket.
5. If you intend to bring a private photographer into the venue, they, too, must have a ticket, which will have to come from your guest allocation. We kindly ask that private photographers be mindful not to detract from the proceedings.
6. Guests arriving at the Coetzenburg centre without tickets will be accommodated in two overflow venues in the Sports Science building, directly behind the Coetzenburg centre, where they will be able to follow the ceremony via livestreaming.

If you have any further questions, please email us on graduation@sun.ac.za.