Your Guide to Grad: A Glossary

As December graduations approach, we’re here to make your experience even smoother!

Check out our handy cheat sheet featuring terms you’re likely to encounter in the lead-up to the big day. Let’s navigate this exciting journey together!

To start you on the way, here’s our Graduation FAQ to help you get an understanding of things.

Booloominbah Historic House 

This is UNE’s original building. Booloominbah was built (completed) in 1888 and today it remains as one of the most prominent buildings of the university, and its lawns often host our outdoor graduation ceremonies in warmer months. When the weather doesn’t permit, we usually move the celebrations into Lazenby Hall.

Conferral

Conferral is the act of bestowing an award, where your academic achievement is recognised at a public ceremony. Conferral generally occurs at a graduation ceremony, either in your presence or in absentia, or at a scheduled meeting of the University Council.

Final Results

The results of your final unit grades. These can be accessed after the release date and can be found in the ‘unit results’ tab in My UNE using your student login details.

Graduand

A person who has completed the requirements for their award course, but the award has not yet been conferred at a graduation ceremony.

Graduate

A person who has completed the requirements for their award course and had the award conferred on them at a graduation ceremony.

Graduation

Once a student has met the requirements of their course, they will be eligible to graduate. Students may choose to attend a graduation ceremony and will receive an official copy of their award (Testamur) from the University Chancellor.

Graduation Ceremony

A ceremony during which all graduates receive their award for the completion of their studies.

Graduation Portal

The Graduation Portal is where students indicate that they are attending their graduation ceremony, purchase UNE merchandise and make on-campus meal bookings for the day of their grad.

Graduate Program

A graduate program is an employment opportunity in which graduates are offered industry training, professional development, and networking opportunities. Most programs offer employment for between 1-3 years.

Graduation Services, on the day

A typical UNE Graduation service is a collaborative effort between many of the teams at UNE.

It requires:

• The ceremony management and planning is usually run by UNE Student Experience and UNE Life
• Food and beverages are provided by UNE Life Events & Catering in the form of gourmet BBQs and formal lunches, dinners or canapes and drinks.
• Gowns for hire or purchase provided by The Shop
• Graduation Services hosts a landing page that ties together all of the information you may need to make your graduation day as special as it should be.
• UNE Life arranges Professional Graduation photography – this can also be ordered via the graduation portal.
• Graduation gifts can be purchased from The Shop online and at the pop up stalls on the day of your ceremony.
• Testamurs are arranged and distributed by the UNE Graduation Team – who also look after your final marks and welcome you as a UNE Alumni.

Graduates Walk

Graduates’ Walk is centrally located on campus, the long brick path leading from the main UNE buildings in Armidale to Booloominbah Historic House. This path is edged with names and years of past Graduates – over 900 other graduates in fact. If you would like your name to be included on the Graduates’ walk you can purchase a paver here. The money for these pavers directly assists students through scholarships.

Lazenby Hall

Lazenby Hall is a multipurpose theatre hall on campus, and it’s where our indoor graduation ceremonies are held. It is a fitting location as this is where most students have their orientation to the university!

Testamur

The hard copy of the certificate or award you will receive when you complete your award course and graduate. A Testamur lists your graduation name, course and the date it was conferred.  Testamurs are legal documents issued by the University Council under the Common Seal, the University Council must give explicit authority for the Common Seal to be applied on a specified date, occurring on the date of your graduation.

Transcript

An official document issued by the University as a record of a student’s completed units and results. A student can purchase official copies of their academic transcript through Onestop upon request.

UNE Alumni

After your graduation from the University of New England, you automatically become a member of the UNE Alumni program.  There is no joining fee or entry form required although we ask you to help us keep your contact details up to date here.

The UNE Alumni family is an active community of hundreds of thousands of past UNE students. UNE is really proud of its alumni and their achievements – past, present, and future – and they are celebrated through the Alumni Awards each year! We also post about our Alumni and their achievements in our #UNEAlumni hashtag to keep the celebrations going after Grad!

UNE Life – Events and Catering

UNE Life Events and Catering is the catering team here at UNE. They are part of the UNE Life family and look after the majority of food on campus. At any typical graduation, they work tirelessly on the catering for in-person ceremonies, often consisting of gourmet BBQs and formal lunches, dinners or canapes and twilight drinks.

UNE Life – The Shop

The Shop looks after a range of services throughout the year including UNE’s very own Post Office. Some of the services they provide include; UNE merchandise, stationery, and equipment to students and staff, as well as selling eBooks & paperback books, and snacks. The Shop also looks after your very special graduation gowns and gifts.

UNE Student Experience

You would have talked to this team a few times throughout your time as a student, they play an integral role in your time here. Typically, they organise and coordinate the event coordination on the day. If you are unable to make the ceremony they will work in collaboration with the UNE Graduation Team to make sure you receive your award(s) in the post. They also play an integral role in student wellbeing and answer a big chunk of questions on AskUNE.

Volunteers

On a regular graduation day, you’ll be greeted by volunteers as you arrive. They will direct you to where you and your family are to be seated and they help with a lot of behind-the-scenes work that UNE Student Experience manages. They’re an essential element to the graduation experience!

We hope this has been useful and that you’re excited about your big day – you’ve worked really hard to get here and we are endlessly proud of your achievements. 

Share your special day with us by tagging @uninewengland and/or @unelife2351 and using hashtag #ProudToBeUNE

Did you know…

When you purchase through UNE Life, you’re helping future graduands reach their potential as well. All money spent with UNE Life goes back into the student experience and amenities, on campus.