St Andrews graduations have been cancelled due to COVID-19

The University of St Andrews has announced that this year’s graduation ceremonies have been cancelled.

The ceremonies, which were supposed to happen between the 22nd and 26th June, will no longer take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The University told students that “we cannot guarantee that the UK will be sufficiently free of risk or the current restrictions on public life by June to allow us to proceed with our traditional Graduation ceremonies.”

The Principal, Professor Sally Mapstone, has offered students three alternatives to the traditional Graduation ceremony. Students can choose to ‘graduate in absentia and participate in a future ceremony’. This means they will receive their degree certificate this summer but can still attend a graduation ceremony.

The second options is for students to ‘graduate in absentia with no future ceremony date’. If students choose this option they will not receive an invitation to attend to a future graduation ceremony.

The final option allows students to defer graduation and students will not receive their degree certificate.

For students who require official university documents, the Principal has assured final years that “degree certificates and HEAR documents will be sent as soon as possible after the classification of degrees has been released.”

Professor Mapstone stated that the reason for the decision was to ensure that travel arrangements could be changed, telling students “I know that this decision will be hugely disappointing to you, your families, and friends. I wanted to inform you as early as possible, however, to allow you to address any travel or accommodation arrangements which you may already have made.”

The Principal also sent out a second email to all staff and students, where she apologised for the cancellation of the ceremonies. Professor Mapstone said of the decision to cancel graduation that it “will be a surprise to very few, and a disappointment to a great many.”

For more information or queries about graduation being cancelled, the University has asked that students contact the Coronavirus Helpdesk in the Advice and Support Centre, North Street, [email protected] or the Graduation Office [email protected].