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​Changes to December graduation ceremonies

Staff members are requested to take note of important changes to the format of the graduation ceremonies and the Chancellor's lunch that will take effect in December 2018. Honorary degrees will be conferred at the ceremony of the relevant faculty and not at the final ceremony as in the past.

The sequence for conferring the degrees will also change. If there is an honorary degree at a ceremony, that will be awarded first, followed by the doctoral degrees, then the masters' degrees, honours' degrees, postgraduate diplomas, and finally the undergraduate qualifications.

Instead of the well-known Chancellor's lunch after the last ceremony, three separate events will be held. The Chancellor's Lunch on 14 December 2018 (after the morning graduation ceremony) will be attended by the Chancellor, the Rectorate, deans and chairs of the SU statutory bodies, as well as the recipient of the Chancellor's medal and the honorary graduates with their guests.

In addition, two separate Vice-Chancellor's Dinners will be held, to which doctoral graduates and their partners, their promotors, deans and members of the Rectorate and senior management will invited to. The first dinner will be held on Tuesday, 11 December (after the evening graduation ceremony). It will include the following faculties (first four graduation ceremonies): Economic and Management Sciences (Group B), Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, Education, and Military Science. The doctoral graduates in the following faculties (the last four graduation ceremonies) will be invited to the dinner on Wednesday 12 December (after the evening graduation ceremony): Economic and Management Sciences (Group A), Arts and Social Sciences, AgriSciences, Law, Theology, and Engineering.

All staff and doctoral candidates will receive their invitations once the graduation lists become available. In the meantime, promotors are welcome to share the information with their candidates. The Chancellor's Lunch and both Vice-Chancellor's Dinners will be held at the Wallenberg Centre in Marais Street.

As with the March graduation ceremonies, admission tickets for guests will once again be issued for the December graduation ceremonies. University events are subject to an application process regulated by legislation. A population certificate determines the maximum number of individuals that may be present in a particular venue at a time, among others due to safety considerations. For the Coetzenburg Centre, where graduation ceremonies are held, the number of individuals may not exceed 3 000. As the number is based on a head count, even a toddler seated on a parent's lap is counted as an individual. An external safety officer ensures compliance at all times. For this reason, Stellenbosch University had no choice but to follow the example of other Western Cape universities that have been limiting guest tickets for a number of years. Additional guests can follow the graduation ceremonies via live streaming in the Sports Science building behind the Coetzenburg Centre, or from anywhere in the world at www.sun.ac.za/streaming

Doctoral candidates each receive four guest tickets, and recipients of masters' degrees may bring three guests. All other graduates will receive two guest tickets each.

For more information: www.sun.ac.za/graduation