Rolling graduation was introduced in 2014. It separated the process of degrees being awarded by Senate from the formal conferral by the Chancellor at Congregation, so that graduate students were able to have their degrees awarded on any one of four dates in a given year; dates in September, November, February, and May. The major reason for doing this was to allow students a formal notation of program completion four times a year instead of twice a year.

Since rolling graduation first started, changes have been made in the SSC so that as soon as students have completed their programs, they can download an official letter that confirms they have completed all degree requirements and are expected to graduate at the next ceremony. This degree completion letter is sufficient for almost all purposes. On the rare occasions that further confirmation is requested (the last request was in 2012), the student is provided with a personal letter from the Dean of G+PS. This has proved effective in all cases.

A recent review by G+PS and Enrolment Services has indicated that rolling graduation has resulted in a substantial increase in work for G+PS and program staff for minimal benefit. Students have begun applying very early for graduation in the hope of completing early (i.e., in September or February). On average, 33% of students who apply to graduate for September or February are not in fact ready to do so, in contrast to 16% at the May and November graduation dates. As the students’ records must be checked in order to determine this, the high application and non-approval rate represents a substantial increase in workload for both program staff and G+PS. Rolling graduation also represents a substantial work increase for Enrolment Services, as they must manually open a special graduation application twice a year. This has proven to be confusing for students, and questions and concerns about the graduation application have greatly increased.

In May 2019, UBC Senate approved the discontinuation of rolling graduation. The approved proposal (attached) was first approved by the Graduate Academic Policy Committee, Graduate Council, and the Senate Academic Policy Committee.

September 2019 will be the last instance of rolling graduation. After that, graduate students will apply to graduate in either May or November, as before. Nothing else has changed. Students’ programs will be closed as soon as they have completed their requirements; they will immediately be able to download a letter of completion from the SSC, and will be eligible for tuition fee refunds for the remainder of the term, as before.

Please contact me if you have further questions.

G+PS_rolling_graduation_policy_Senate_approved

Kind regards,

Max

Max Read
Associate Director, Student Academic Services
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies | Office of the Dean and Vice-Provost
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus
170-6371 Crescent Road | Vancouver BC | V6T 1Z2 Canada
Phone 604 822 0283
max.read@ubc.ca | http://www.grad.ubc.ca