This tutorial applies to graduate students within the College of Graduate Studies only. If you are a Master of Management student, view these instructions.
Step 1: Submit the Program Completion Application
Step 2: Submit the Program Completion Questionnaire
Step 3: Submit the Graduation Application
Step 4: Verify your application
About graduation
To graduate from UBC, you must complete a formal application process that consists of:
- The Program Completion Application in Workday.
- This application must be submitted to have your degree conferred by the Senate and officially completed.
- The Program Completion Questionnaire in Workday.
- The questionnaire collects information for adjudication including the conferral period you are applying for (February, May, September or November), whether you have pending transfer credits and whether you intend to take courses as an Unclassified student in the session following graduation.
- The Graduation Application
- This application must be submitted to receive your parchment and to indicate whether or not you plan to attend the ceremony.
You must complete the Program Completion Application, the Program Completion Questionnaire, and the Graduation Application or you will not be eligible to graduate.
Before you begin
For an application to be successful, you must:
- Have an “Active” student status (refer to the Summary > Student Information page on your profile)
- Apply during the application period:
- May conferral: January 1 – April 30
- September conferral: May 1 – August 31
- November conferral: September 1 – October 15
- February conferral: September 1 – December 31
- Select the correct conferral period in the questionnaire that matches the current application window (e.g., If applying between May 1 – Aug 31, select September conferral). If you select a conferral period that is not currently open for applications, your application will be denied, and you will be required to reapply.
- Submit the Program Completion Application, the Program Completion Questionnaire, and the Graduation Application before the application deadline.
Step 1: Submit the Program Completion Application
First, go to your Academics app
1. Log into your Workday account at myworkday.ubc.ca.
2. On the right side of the page, in the “Your Top Apps” menu, click the “Academics” app.
Next, go to Graduation
Once in your Academics app, you will be brought to the “Academics” page by default.
1. Click the “Graduation” tab in the top menu.
2. In the “Graduation” menu to the right, click the “Apply for Program Completion” link.
Complete your Program Completion Application
1. Review your Academic Record
i. This field is prepopulated if you only have one active academic record.
ii. If you have multiple active academic records, you will need to select the one you are applying for.
2. Double-check your name. This field is prepopulated.
3. Check “Apply” to select the Program of Study. Only primary programs of study can be selected. Ensure listed programs of study are correct before submitting your application.
4. Enter the correct Expected Completion Date (ECD) (see table below)
i. The ECD date entered does not impact your academic record or the date you actually meet/met program requirements.
ii. Even if you have already met program requirements for your program of study, you must enter an ECD between today’s date and the date the applications close for the graduation period you are applying to. For example, if you have completed your requirements in December 2024, but are applying for the May 2025 conferral period, you would select an ECD between the date you are completing your application and April 30.
iii. If you select an ECD that does not match the current application window when you are applying, you will receive an error message.
Table 1: Possible Expected Completion Dates (ECDs) for Application
| Conferral Period | Apply between… | Select ECD between… | Outcome |
| May | Jan 1 – Apr 30
(Winter Term 2) |
Jan 1 – Apr 30 |
|
| September | May 1 – Aug 31
(Summer Session) |
May 1 – Aug 31 |
|
| November | Sep 1 – Oct 15
(Winter Term 1) |
Sep 1 – Oct 15* |
*Nov and Feb conferral periods overlap |
| February | Sep 1 – Dec 31
(Winter Term 1) |
Sep 1 – Dec 31* |
*Nov and Feb conferral periods overlap |
5. Check the “Confirm” box at the bottom.
6. Check that the information is correct. Once your application is submitted, you will not be able to edit it or make changes to your program of study.
7. Click the orange “Submit” button at the bottom left of the page.
What happens after you submit an application?
|
Step 2: Submit the Program Completion Questionnaire
A mandatory questionnaire will be sent to your My Tasks inbox. This will be used to confirm the conferral period and gather information on pending transfer credit and whether you intend to register as an Unclassified student in the upcoming academic period. The questionnaire also includes a link to the Graduation Application, for you to provide required graduation ceremony details.
Confirming your graduation ceremony attendanceAt the top of the questionnaire, you will see a link that directs you to the Graduation Application, where you provide details for your graduation ceremony attendance. View step-by-step instructions on completing the Graduation Application below. |
1. Navigate to My Tasks; or
2. Select the task on the landing page
3. Click on inbox item to open questionnaire
4. Confirm the conferral period for which you are applying. It is important that you select the correct conferral period that matches the application window of when you are applying:
| Select Conferral Period… (Questionnaire Response) |
When applying between… |
| May | Jan 1 – Apr 30 |
| September | May 1 – Aug 31 |
| November | Sep 1 – Oct 15* |
| February | Sep 1 – Dec 31* |
*Between Sep 1 -Oct 15, you can select either November or February conferral. After Oct 15, only February conferral can be selected. If November is selected after Oct 15, you cannot be considered for November conferral.
If you select a conferral period that is not currently open for applications, your application will be denied, and you will be required to reapply.
5. Answer the remaining questions
6. Click “Submit”
Note: once submitted, you cannot make changes to the questionnaire or view your responses.
Review and confirm your Program Completion Status
After you submit your Program Completion Application and your Program Completion Questionnaire, your Program Completion Status will show as “Applied for Completion.” Learn how to view your Program Completion Application Status.
If you submitted the Program Completion Application and not the Program Completion Questionnaire, you will not see anything populated in the Program Completion Application Status widget. Navigate to your My Tasks inbox to complete your questionnaire.
Step 3: Submit the Graduation Application
First, go to the Graduation Application
1. Use your CWL to log into graduation.students.ubc.ca to access your Student Portal.
2. Select ‘Apply for Graduation’ to start your Graduation Application.
Complete your Graduation Application
1. Review the information at the top of the application, which indicates the last date to make any required changes.
2. Complete the application.
- Some of the fields on the Graduation Application will be prepopulated with information from your Workday account. Review this content.
- If graduation ceremony dates and times have not been assigned, your graduation ceremony details will not appear. Details may not be available until May and are subject to change. Check back regularly.
If you are a PhD student:
- There is a field for you to submit your doctoral citation within the application.
- Candidates write their citation and check it with their supervisor before submitting. All doctoral students attending the June ceremony are required to submit a citation.
- The citation should be a maximum of 350 characters and summarize, in lay language, the nature of the independent research, the contribution to knowledge made by the candidate in the dissertation, and the intellectual and/or practical value of the work.
- Learn more about doctoral citations.
Submit your Graduation Application
1. To submit your Graduation Application, you must select the “Save & Submit” button located after the ‘Ceremony Details’ section.
2. If your Graduation Application was successfully submitted, you will see a screen that states “Application Successfully Submitted”.
You will also receive a confirmation email sent to the primary email address you have listed in Workday. Reminder: Please check your Spam and Junk Email folders.
Step 4: Verify your application
1. Use your CWL to log into graduation.students.ubc.ca.
2. Select “View Details” to open the Application Details screen.
3. Confirm that you have successfully completed both the Program Completion Application and the Graduation Application. Please note: The Application Details screen does not show if you have completed your Program Completion Questionnaire. To verify that you have completed the Program Completion Questionnaire, follow the instructions to review your Program Completion Status.
If you see the following message on the Application Details screen, no further action is required:
- “You have completed all the steps required for your degree to be evaluated for conferral”
If you do not see two check marksAn overnight refresh may be required before both check marks appear on your Application Details screen. |
If you see the following message, further action is required:
- “You still have pending steps to complete for your degree to be evaluated for conferral”
4. Review the remaining application details for accuracy.
- If there are any discrepancies or changes needed to your Graduation Application, you will be able to edit your application until the application period is completed. From the application details screen, select “Edit Student Application”.
- Note: If graduation ceremony dates and times have not been assigned, your Graduation Ceremony details will not appear. Details may not be available until May and are subject to change. Check back regularly.
Application errors
You may come across the following error message while filling out your application:
Error: The selected expected completion date doesn’t fall within an academic period available for completion
You may receive this error message if the application has not opened, or if you enter an Expected Completion Date too far in the future.
i. The ECD date entered does not impact your academic record or the date you actually meet/met program requirements.
ii. Even if you have already met program requirements for your program of study, you must enter an ECD between today’s date and the date the applications close for the graduation period you are applying to. For example, if you have completed your requirements in December 2024, but are applying for the May 2025 conferral period, you would select an ECD between the date you are completing your application and April 30.
Late applications
Once the application deadline has passed, please ensure you apply for the next available graduation period. You may contact the College of Graduate Studies for additional assistance.
Additional resources
- Viewing your Program Completion Application Status – Graduate students
- College of Graduate Studies Program Completion and Graduation
- Okanagan Campus Graduation (ceremony details)
- Ordering a parchment (diploma)
