Graduations

When you have satisfied the requirements for an award, a Program Completion is applied to your Student Record. At this point, you are recognised as a Graduate. Graduates are required to complete an electronic Graduation Registration through the MyCQU Student Portal.

Please ensure all contact details are up to date on your MyCQU portal prior to Graduation Registration.

Conferral date is the date on which you are officially conferred with your award. You cannot register for graduation until you have been conferred with your degree.

• Term 2 2024 – 18 November 2024
• Term 3 2024 – 24 March 2025
• Term 1 2025 – 28 July 2025
• Term 2 2025 – 24 November 2025

Please be aware of the conferral dates as above and ensure you register for the graduation ceremony of your choosing prior to the registration closure date. You can view the registration closing date by clicking on the locations below.

Download a copy of our Graduation Book. This book includes our ceremony program and important information about our graduation ceremonies. It’s also a great keepsake of your special day!

Once you’ve successfully registered and after the registration closing date (usually a couple of days after), you’ll receive a Ceremony Information Sheet via email (both your university and personal addresses will be used).

The Ceremony Information sheet will contain vital information regarding the collection of your Academic Regalia, ticketing information, venue locations, dates, times, photographer information

As part of your graduation registration, you will provide your head size and height. From this, our database collates this information for us to be able to provide you with your gown, stole for hire and mortarboard for your special Graduation Day. 

For important information on looking your best on the day, read our how to wear academic regalia guide. 

Interested in knowing how to colour coordinate your outfit? Use our designated colour chart document as your guide.

We are proud of its commitment to Reconciliation between Australia’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

To enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to have their ancestry recognised during graduation ceremonies, graduands have the option of wearing an Indigenous sash for their Graduation.

The wearing of the sash enables the community, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to celebrate the achievement of the growing number of Indigenous graduates and to reflect on our university’s and nation’s Reconciliation goals.

CQUniversity’s Indigenous sash is based on artwork commissioned from Chaboo Designs and represents the Indigenous Community within the University.

The sash acknowledges and is reflective of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

If you are an Indigenous Graduate and you have registered to attend a Graduation Ceremony, an invitation to receive the Cultural Sash will be extended to you from the Indigenous Student Engagement team, via your student email.

If you wish to receive a Cultural Sash, you will need to respond to the invitation sent to your student email, advising you would like to. For more information, you can email indigenous@cqu.edu.au.

Rather than writing out your full qualification title for some instances (business cards, your email signature), you’ll need to know the proper abbreviated form for your degree – we call these abbreviations postnominals. For example, Joe Citizen MBA(MktgMgt) CQU or Joe Citizen BA(Hons) CQU. 

Find out how to properly abbreviate your qualification via our postnominal listing guide. 

Your qualification not on the list? Please email your program details and student number to our governance team.

The Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) is a national survey being conducted for the Australian Government Department of Education and Training as part of Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT).

The results of this survey will help higher education providers and the government to improve the student experience. Your feedback is very important and will contribute directly to the quality of teaching and learning for current and future students.

The Social Research Centre, a leading research organisation, on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, administers the GOS.

Graduates selected to participate in the GOS will receive an email invitation with a link to the online questionnaire approximately four months after the completion of their award.

We strongly encourage you to participate in this survey, but your involvement is voluntary. All responses are confidential and no personal information will be linked to your response. 

The Your Photographer team is excited to capture the memories of your special day! Our professional photographers will photograph each graduate receiving their degree on stage and don't forget to visit our on-site studios for individual and family portraits available before or after the ceremony. No bookings or session fee is required. Within 48 hours the online galleries are available for you to choose the photograph you would like to own as printed photographs or high resolution digital files. Full pricing and details are available in the galleries.

Visit Your Photographer to find your graduation photos or contact (07) 3325 5437 | contactus@yourphotographer.com.au

Our student system will identify you as a graduate once you have successfully satisfied all of the requirements for a course and staff will assess your eligibility for graduation.

Eligibility will be assessed 10 working days after the official Certification of Grades date (as published in the Key Dates Calendar).

Conferral is the process of awarding a degree, once it has been confirmed that all requirements have been met.  This occurs at the end of the Graduation Evaluation Period.

Conferral Date is the date on which you are officially conferred with your award. This date will be printed onto your testamur (certificate) and academic history and is the date when you are officially recognised as a CQUniversity graduate.

You cannot register for graduation until you have been conferred with your degree. Conferral dates are also published in the Key Dates Calendar.

For any enquiries relating to the conferral of your degree, please contact the Course Management Team.

A Graduation Evaluation Period (GEP) is the period during which the units you studied are examined to ensure that all requirements have been met and that you are eligible to be conferred (awarded) with your degree. You cannot complete the Graduation Registration process until after you have been conferred.

A Testamur is a degree certificate that lists the course that has been completed.

A Transcript is a record of your enrolment and the results you obtained for each unit.

In most cases, 11 working days after the official Certification of Grades date (as published in the Key Dates Calendar). Various factors may influence this process. Contact the Course Advice team if you have any concerns.

Students who wish to change their name details on the University's records must write to the Student Records team, providing a copy of their former and current signatures and supporting certified documents. Where changes are made after each term's Certification of Grades date, students must ALSO advise the Graduation team of this change. Testamurs will be printed according to the University's records.

• ensure correct knowledge of graduation term dates and eligibility
• ensure correct knowledge of Graduation Ceremony dates, times and locations, as well as registration closure dates for each ceremony
• maintain address and email details correctly on MyCQU
• complete an electronic Graduation Registration on MyCQU.

Graduation ceremonies are held in various locations each year and attendance is optional. Refer to the Graduate Ceremony Dates section earlier on this page for upcoming dates. 

Search ‘Prepare to Graduate’ in MyCQU and follow the prompts to complete the Graduation Registration. If you have forgotten your password or you are having difficulties accessing MyCQU, you will need to speak with the IT Helpdesk and they will reset your password for you or assist in resolving your issues. The contact number is 1300 666 620.

The Graduation Registration fee is $160.00. This fee includes your attendance to the ceremony, the hire of your academic regalia, your mortarboard (hat) which we gift to you to keep and two complimentary guest tickets (you as a graduate do not require a ticket). If you are a PhD graduate the fee includes your attendance to the ceremony, hire of your academic regalia including gown, bonnet and hood links (you are gifted your hood links to keep) and two complimentary guest tickets (as a PhD graduate, you do not require a ticket). This registration fee is a standard fee for all graduates and no reductions to this fee will be made, irrespective of regalia you may already own. If you identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, you may be able eligible for funding to assist with paying your graduation registration fee. Please contact the Scholarships team at scholarships@cqu.edu.au to find out more.

Contact the Graduation team on studentevents@cqu.edu.au for further information.

With your graduation registration fee, you automatically receive two complimentary guest tickets (you as a graduate do not require a ticket). Additional tickets will go on sale after registrations for the ceremony have closed. Advice on additional tickets will be included in your Student Information sheet email which will be sent to all registered students following registrations closing.

Graduates may attend a Graduation Ceremony that occurs on a date after the end of the relevant GEP. A condition of attendance at a CQUniversity Graduation Ceremony is that studies must have been completed in accordance with the relevant timelines that apply to each respective ceremony. Other restrictions may apply to some ceremonies. CQUniversity graduates are permitted to attend a ceremony at any of the locations we host.

Yes – simply email the Corporate Events and Graduation team via studentevents@cqu.edu.au with your preferred location and date, and the team will manually register you.

Debtors will be permitted to:

• attend the ceremony
• wear academic regalia
• invite guests in accordance with any prescribed guest limits
• cross the ceremony stage
• be presented with a testamur wallet containing an explanatory document in place of the testamur (certificate)
• have photographs taken
• partake of refreshments, if provided.

Debtors will not be permitted to:

• be presented with the actual testamur at the ceremony (you will be handed a blank testamur until payment is received);
• collect their testamur.

The University will not release testamurs until all debts to CQUniversity are finalised. Finalisation of debts must occur no less than 10 working days prior to the date of the Graduation Ceremony.

With your graduation registration fee, you automatically receive two complimentary guest tickets (you as a graduate do not require a ticket). Once student registrations close, you will receive an email outlining additional ticket information. If the individual venue capacity allows, we will release additional tickets for purchase. 

To attend a graduation ceremony, the graduation registration fee is $160.00. This fee includes your attendance to the graduation ceremony, the hire of your academic regalia, your mortarboard (hat) which we gift to you to keep and two complimentary guest tickets (you as a graduate do not require a ticket). This graduation registration fee is a standard fee for all graduates. No reductions to this fee will be made, irrespective of regalia you may already own.

Access the "My Graduation" tile in MyCQU and follow the prompts to complete the graduation registration. If you have forgotten your password or you are having difficulties accessing MyCQU you will need to speak with the IT Helpdesk and they will reset it for you or assist in resolving your issues. The contact number is 1300 666 620.

CQUniversity will certify and upload a digital version of your testamur and academic transcript to My eQuals, a secure online platform. You can then use My eQuals to share these documents with anyone you choose, including employers, universities and other parties.

Graduates now also automatically receive a digital version of their testamur or academic transcript, for further information relating to academic awards please visit our Academic Awards page.

Simply email studentevents@cqu.edu.au with your change of size and the Events team will update your registration

You may get someone else to collect your academic regalia and two complimentary tickets on your behalf. They will just need to bring their identification with them when collecting.