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Graduation

Apply to graduate

You must apply to graduate in order to have your course conferred. Conferral is the act of 'officially validating' or awarding your course and qualification.

From 2023 onwards, all students studying in Australia must have a Unique Student Identifier (USI) to obtain a qualification. It's free to create a USI and only takes 5 minutes. Please note: you do not need a USI if you are studying offshore (outside of Australia).

After conferral of your course you can:

  • use your qualifications
  • use your title eg Dr (if applicable)
  • use your postnominals
  • receive your official academic documents
  • receive an invitation to attend a future graduation ceremony

Students studying in Australia can refer to the graduation key dates for dates relating to applications, ceremonies, fees and changing preferences.

Students studying at a partner campus offshore can refer to the Offshore Graduation web page for important information regarding their graduation application.

How to apply

Changing your preferences

Group of graduates smiling Graduation FAQs - Applying to graduate

Group of graduates with documents Graduation FAQs - official documents

How to apply

You will be eligible to graduate if you have:

  • completed all requirements for your course;
  • no outstanding fees or fines owing to the University (see step 2 below);
  • completed all supplementary qualifications eg. Consent Matters
  • provided UOW with your Unique Student Idendifier (USI) (students studying in Australia only)

Want to check your eligibility to graduate with distinction? Refer to the Weighted Average Mark (WAM) calculator.

Higher degree research (HDR) candidates

If you are a HDR student will be eligible to graduate once you satisfy the Thesis Examination Committee’s resolution. You must then submit to the Graduate Research School a digital copy of the final thesis and a Digital Repository Form completed by the candidate and principal supervisor.

Before applying to graduate, you must pay all outstanding fees or fines owing to the University. All outstanding payments will be listed in SOLS.

Graduates who elect to attend a graduation ceremony will be required to pay the graduation fee at least one week prior to their allocated ceremony.

Make sure all of your personal details are up to date in SOLS before you apply to graduate, as these will be listed on your official documents and at the graduation ceremony.

Details you need to check include:

Your name

This is the name that will:

  • be printed on your official documents
  • appear in the graduation program booklet
  • be announced in your ceremony (if you choose to attend)

If you need to update your legal name, you may need to provide supporting documentation.

Your address

The address you nominate in your graduation application is where UOW will send your hardcopy testamur (certificate). Additional charges may apply if returned mail needs to be redirected.

Your application to graduate is where you indicate two important things:

  1. That you would like UOW to confer your course, once your eligibility is confirmed; and
  2. The address where your hardcopy testamur is to be sent after conferral

To start your application, log in to SOLS and select ‘Graduation Application’ from the left-hand menu. You will need to apply before the cut-off date. Don't wait for your final results to be declared before you apply. Late applications will not be accepted.

If you’re completing more than one course, you must submit a separate graduation application for each individual course.

Note: a double degree is considered a single course of study for the purpose of completing a graduation application.

Ensure you have correctly declared your Major and/or Minor (if applicable to your course).

Once you’ve submitted your application, it’s important to keep checking your SOLS as notifications will be sent via SOLSmail. Information will also appear under the ‘Graduation Confirmation and Eligibility’ menu.

Final eligibility

If you have applied to graduate, your eligibility will be available via the ‘Graduation Confirmation and Eligibility’ menu in SOLS after your final session’s results are published. Refer to the graduation key dates for exact dates.

Changing your graduation preferences

You can update your personal details even after you have applied to graduate*.

*If you change your name after conferral and you wish to replace your academic documents, there is a fee involved and the format of the documents may differ from the original, find out more here.

If you've applied to graduate and no longer wish to be conferred at this time, you must withdraw your application. By withdrawing your application you will not be conferred for your course, you will not receive any official documents and will not be able to use your title or post-nominals. You will not be able to attend a future graduation ceremony until your course is conferred.

  1. Login to SOLS
  2. Select 'Graduation Application'
  3. Select 'Review'
  4. Select 'Withdraw Application'

To update the email address nominated for your My eQuals account, as well as the postal address for your testamur, follow these steps:

  1. Login to SOLS
  2. Select 'Graduation Application'
  3. Select 'Review'
  4. Select 'Change Attendance'
  5. Under ‘Part B: Document delivery options’ you can change your details.

Please note you cannot use an @uow.edu.au or @uowmail.edu.au email address for your My eQuals account, or as the address nominated for document delivery.

Graduation FAQs - applying to graduate

You must apply to graduate in order to have your course conferred. Conferral is the process of 'officially validating' or finishing your course.

After conferral of your course you can:

  • use your qualifications
  • use your title eg Dr (if applicable)
  • use your postnominals
  • receive your official hardcopy testamur (certificate) by post
  • receive your official academic documents in digital version on My eQuals
  • receive an invitation to attend an upcoming graduation ceremony

A ceremony involves dressing in academic dress, being announced and presented to the University's highest officials, and celebrating with your family and friends.

You can find out more about what's involved in a graduation ceremony on the your graduation day webpage.

Yes, you still need to apply to graduate in order to have your course conferred and receive your official documents.

Students who wish to apply to graduate must submit their application via the 'Graduation Application' menu in SOLS.

Visit the SOLS help webpage for information on accessing SOLS, including how to reset your password.

Alternatively, you can use your student ID card barcode to login.

If you are still having issues, please contact the AskUOW team.

If you have to sit a supplementary or deferred exam, your results will not be finalised in time to meet critical conferral and graduation deadlines. This means you will have to apply to graduate in the next available round. Then, once your course has been conferred, you will be able to attend a ceremony (if you choose) and receive your official documents.

Graduation FAQs - official documents

No. Hardcopy testamurs are posted to students and cannot be obtained any earlier.

Refer to the graduation key dates for information on when you expect to receive your documents. 

Hardcopy official documents will be sent to you by DHL Couriers. Visit the official documents webpage for more information about postage.

Check the graduation key dates web page for when you can expect to receive your hardcopy or digital official documents.

Hardcopy

If the date has passed, please contact AskUOW who will investigate the tracking details for your documents.

Digital

Check your junk mailbox from an email from no-reply@myequals.uow.edu.au.

If the date has passed, contact the AskUOW team who can check the email address listed and resend the email.

Digital official documents are issued to UOW graduates via My eQuals slightly earlier than your hardcopy documents, as outlined in the graduation key dates.

Digital documentation includes:

  • Transcripts
  • Testamurs
  • Australian Higher Education Graduation Statements (AHEGS); and
  • UOWx Awards and UOWx Records (where relevant).

For more information visit the official documents or My eQuals web pages.

Digital documents will be issued free of charge to onshore students who graduated from an Australian campus.

Once issued, digital official documents, generally, should not have to be re-issued. There may be circumstances, however, where you might need a document to be re-issued.

If this is due to an error, and that error is by UOW, then we will correct that error and re-issue the document free of charge.

If this is due to another reason (legal change of name, marriage etc) then the re-issue may incur a fee.

Find out more on the official documents webpage.

Visit the My eQuals page for more information on digital official documents.

To find about more about the My eQuals portal, visit the My eQuals website.

To find out more about viewing and sharing your documents on My eQuals, visit their help site.

Graduates will be issued an Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS) via My eQuals.

AHEGS is a Commonwealth initiative that has been introduced to make Australian qualifications* more widely recognised internationally.

The Graduation Statement includes information about the award, the awarding institution and the Australian higher education system, providing potential employers and other institutions a greater understanding of the achievements of the graduate.

UOW provides its graduates with a Graduation Statement in addition to a Testamur and Academic Transcript. The template for the UOW Graduation Statement is based on nationally agreed specifications approved by the Department of Education.

Graduation Statements may assist Australian graduates in obtaining employment or pursuing further education abroad.

*Australian qualifications are based on the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). The AQF comprises a set of national qualifications (i.e. awards), titles and descriptors, and also specifies the main criteria for defining qualifications based on the general characteristics of learning outcomes at each level.

All qualifications awarded by registered higher education institutions must comply with the AQF.

For more about your qualification go to information on the Australian Qualifications Framework.