What does graduation mean?

The Board of Examiners of your programme will determine your graduation date, the date on your diploma. In order to graduate, you must first satisfy the exam requirements for your study programme. These are described in the Education and Examination Regulations of your Master's programme. Based on these criteria and your Study Progress Review the Board of Examiners then determines whether you have graduated.

Here you will find more information about the Graduation procedure.

Please note! Graduation does not mean automatic termination of enrolment. If you graduate during the academic year and wish to terminate your enrolment, you will have to do so yourself by submitting a request in Studielink. You can terminate your enrolment as soon as all the results of your degree programma are registered correctly in Osiris. Your enrolment will be terminated as of the 1st of the month following your request. It is not possible to terminate your enrolment retroactively.

For more information, check below under > Termination of Enrolment

Graduation process

Check your study progress overview (SVO) in Osiris.

  • Are there any results registered under Other Courses that are part of your degree programme? Please inform the Faculty's Student desk.
  • Have you earned credits at another institution in the Netherlands of abroad that have not yet been recorded in Osiris? Please fill in the form at: students.uu.nl/en > your programme > Practical information > Academic policies and procedures> Approval and exemption.           

One of the requirements for graduation is that you upload your Master’s thesis to Utrecht University Library's digital thesis archive. Do this as soon as the final version has been approved. For more information, look in the menu on the left under "Uploading master's thesis".

At the beginning of each month, the Board of Examiners determines which students  completed their degree programme during the previous month. For these students, the graduation date is set.

The graduation date is the last day of the month in which your last study result/grade has been registered in Osiris (not the testing date on your study progress report). So, for example, if your last grade is registered on 23 April, then your graduation date is 30 April. So check Osiris regularly.

Results that are registered in Osiris after your graduation date will not count towards your degree and will not be listed on your International Diploma Supplement (IDS).

Please note! You can terminate your enrolment as soon as all the results of your degree programme are registered correctly in Osiris. You do not have to wait for confirmation of your graduation by the Board of Examiners.

In the first week of the month following your graduation date, you will receive an email from the Board of Examiners informing you that you have graduated. So, for example, if you have graduated 30 April, then you will receive an email in the first week of May. In this email you will also find information about postponement of your graduation.

Have you met all the requirements of your study programme, but wish to postpone your graduation? This is only possible if you:

  • plan to fulfil a management position for which Utrecht University has provided a board activities grant;
  • plan to do a traineeship;
  • plan to take a course of a study programme abroad.

In order to postpone your graduation date, you must submit a request to the Board of Examiners within two weeks after receiving your graduation email. Please use this form. You will receive a notification whether or not your request is granted.

Three weeks after receiving the graduation email, you can request a declaration of graduation at DUO. You can use this certificate as proof of graduation when registering for further studies or applying for a job.

If you cannot get a declaration from DUO, you can email the faculty's Student Desk to request a certificate.

You will receive your diploma during the graduation ceremony organised by your degree programme.

You will receive your diploma during the graduation ceremony organised by your degree programme. Usually there are only one or two graduation ceremonies each academic year, so quite a few months may elapse between your graduation date and the ceremony where you will receive your diploma. Check the menu on the left for Graduation ceremony for ceremony dates and more information.

To help foreign universities to interpret the value of our grades, UU publishes Grading Tables:

  • a table for Bachelor’s courses and
  • a table for Master’s courses.

The Grading Tables provide statistical distributions of grades awarded at Utrecht University. They show which percentage of all passing grades that were awarded in the three most recent academic years were (rounded-off) a 6.0, a 6.5, a 7.5, etc. The tables will be published on the International Diploma Supplement of all students who graduate after September 1st 2017.

In addition to the Grading Tables, UU also publishes your weighted average grade on the ten-point scale on your International Diploma Supplement.

Read more on Grading Tables on UU Grades abroad: Grading Tables.

The Board of Examiners will determine whether you have met the criteria for the honours Cum Laude. Honours will be printed on your diploma and your diploma supplement. For more information, see the general Education and Examination Regulations Master's programmes.

If you graduate during the academic year and wish to terminate your enrolment, you will have to do so yourself by submitting a request in Studielink. You can terminate your enrolment as soon as all the results of your degree programma are registered correctly in Osiris. You do not have to wait for confirmation of your graduation by the Board of Examiners.

Your enrolment will be terminated as of the 1st of the month following your request. If your last result is registered in April, and you want to terminate your enrolment as of 1 May, you have to put in your request on or before 30 April. It is not possible to terminate your enrolment retroactively.

You may choose to stay enrolled for the rest of the academic year, in which case your enrolment automatically ends as of 1 September. Of course you will then be required to pay the tuition fee for the rest of the academic year.

If you graduate in the summer (June, July or August),  there is no need to request termination of your enrolment. You are not entitled to a refund of tuition fees and your current enrolment will automatically end as of 1 September.

Read more about date of termination and tuition fee refund.

If you receive a student grant and/or travel card from DUO, you are only eligible for these as long as you are enrolled. Once your enrolment ends, you have to cancel these yourself with DUO. Read more on how and when to cancel your student grant and/or travel card.

If you are a non-EU/EEA student and hold a residence permit for study purposes, your residence permit is only valid as long as you are enrolled as a student at Utrecht University. Read more about the validity of your residence permit.

Contact

Do you believe that you have graduated and have not yet received word of this? Have you earned credits at other institutions in the Netherlands or abroad that have not been recorded in Osiris? Do you have other questions regarding the graduation procedure? Then please contact the Student Desk Humanities. They can direct you to the exam secretariat of the Board of Examiners if necessary.

  • Els Rose (chair)
  • Sven Dupré
  • Daniel Janssen
  • Chiel Kattenbelt
  • Jesse Mulder
  • Henriëtte de Swart

The Board of Examiners is assisted by the Board's executive secretary, Erna Kamerbeek

Contact information

Board of Examiners
Concerning: <name study programme>
Drift 10
3512 BS UTRECHT
studentdesk.hum@uu.nl