Celebrate your achievements in style with our academic dress, available to hire from our gowning partner Graduation Attire. Your hire includes a gown, mortarboard, and hood, or you can choose to purchase your own if you prefer.
We recommend wearing smart, traditional, or national dress under your robes. The gowns are quite heavy and have velcro fastenings, so securing them to your clothing will help keep them in place. Wearing a shirt or blouse is useful, as it allows the hood to be fastened onto a button.
Graduates, you may find it helpful to bring some hair clips and safety pins along on the day. They can help keep your mortar board and gown in place!
Graduation is a day to remember! Celebrate your success with friends and family and reflect on all you’ve accomplished.
Gown hire
You will be sent an email when registration opens which will include details of how you hire academic dress, purchase guest tickets and professional photography. Please note that all academic dress must be booked and paid for by the registration closing date.
All graduates are asked to wear the correct academic dress for their ceremony, including a gown, hood, and mortarboard. Wearing your academic dress ensures you can take full part in the ceremony, including walking across the stage and appearing in your official graduation photos.
We understand that sometimes exceptions are needed. If you have any medical, religious, or cultural considerations, please contact the Arden University Graduation team in advance for guidance at: graduation@arden.ac.uk
While most students hire their gown for the ceremony, professional photos and the Alumni drinks reception, you also have the option to extend your hire for an extra seven days for an additional cost (see table below for details). This allows you to take your gown home after the ceremony and keep it for a week.
After the extended hire period, the gown must be returned to our gowning partner using the pre-paid bag provided when you collect your gown on the day of graduation. Instructions for using the bag are included inside, and you must obtain proof of posting. Please note that gowns cannot be taken outside of the UK.
If you choose to purchase your own gown, you will collect it at the venue from the “Purchase Rail”, this is to ensure your academic dress looks its best on the day of your ceremony. You will be able to take this home after the event.
Academic dress should be hired or purchased during the registration process through the booking platform.
Your gown will be ready for you to collect at the venue, after you have registered and collected your tickets.
Your academic dress will be available for collection at the venue once you’ve checked in at the registration desk to confirm your arrival.
Photography
When registering for graduation and hiring academic dress, you’ll be given the option to purchase a photography package. This package allows you to have official photos taken in a studio on the day of your graduation. If you have purchased a photography package we suggest arriving at the venue as soon as registration opens to avoid long queues.
A professional photographer from Graduation Attire will be capturing your special moment on stage as you shake hands with the presiding officer. You will receive an email with a link to purchase your individual photo approximately within two weeks of the ceremony.
In addition, Arden’s Marketing Team will be present at the event to capture highlights of your special day. These photos will be published on our graduation webpage within a month of the ceremony taking place.
Photography and recording are allowed in the venue. However, we kindly ask guests to be considerate of others.
Academic dress and Photography costs
| Item | Description | Price (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Academic dress | Includes gown, hood, and mortarboard | 33.60 |
| Extended gown hire | +7 days after your graduation day | 65.00 |
| Bachelor | Purchase of gown, hood, and mortarboard | 125.00 |
| Masters | Purchase of gown, hood, and mortarboard | 135.00 |
| Photography Packages | Various packages available | From 22.50 |
*Please note these costs are subject to change
Image capture statement
We would like to inform you that Arden University graduation ceremonies are photographed, videoed and/or otherwise captured in image form. Images and video content may then be used by Arden University for publicity and promotional purposes, such as prospectuses, advertising campaigns, websites, exhibition stands, posters, leaflets, national or local press articles, etc. It is important to note that if any images are published on the internet, they will be accessible to users from all over the world. It is possible that representatives from the press, television or radio may attend the graduation ceremonies and capture their own images for publication or broadcast purposes.
Due to the scale of these events, we are unable to obtain written consent from each individual attending or working at the events. Therefore, we will assume that whilst participating in these events all persons agree to their image(s) being captured for the purposes stated above. Click here to view our Privacy Policy. If you do object to your image(s) being used in this way, please make yourself known to one of the organisers on the day or email graduation@arden.ac.uk before you attend.
