Do you have to wear a gown at your graduation ceremony?

Academic dress is three pieces worn together: gown, hood and mortarboard. UEL's own guide describes a gowning area right behind the registration desks, where staff dress each graduate, and reassures you that "the academic dress goes over your clothes, so there is no need to change or undress". Every hire through UEL's supplier includes all three pieces as standard.

The ceremony uses every one of them. When your row is called, you walk down the aisle, hand over your calling card and cross the stage on the red carpet, doffing your cap to the Chancellor. Near the end, the Chancellor formally confers the degrees, and graduates celebrate by throwing their caps into the air.

The design depends on what you're graduating with. UEL shows a separate set of academic dress for each kind of award: undergraduate certificate, foundation, bachelor's, postgraduate certificate (including the PGCE), master's, and PhD or doctorate. A gown from another university, or a set for a different award, isn't the one UEL illustrates for yours.

The official route runs through Marston Events, the same website where you register for the ceremony and buy guest tickets. Pre-ordered, a bachelor's set costs £42 to hire, a master's £45 and a doctoral set £50; hiring on the day adds a £10 surcharge. You can also buy outright (£195, £205 or £650, before postage), or pay £35 for extended hire, which includes a freepost envelope for the return. Gown refunds are available up to six working days before the ceremonies begin.

The other route is hiring from us. Bachelor's and master's sets are £30 a day and doctoral sets £50, gown, hood and cap together, paid online when you book. You collect the evening before (20:00 to 22:30) or that morning (09:00 to 12:00), try it all on at your own pace, and turn up already dressed, so the gowning area is one queue you skip. The set comes back to us between 17:00 and 19:30 on the same day.

Whichever you choose, book once your ceremony is confirmed. Popular sizes go first as each round gets closer, and the official orders have deadlines of their own before every set of ceremonies.

The ceremony is something you register for: UEL is clear that if you haven't registered, you can't attend. Your degree doesn't depend on it, and neither does your certificate. Certificates aren't handed out at the ceremonies at all; they're posted by Royal Mail recorded delivery or registered airmail to the address on UEL Direct, or collected in person if you request it through My Portal, and UEL expects them to reach you within 12 weeks of your classification being published.

"Certificates and Diploma Supplements are not presented at the graduation ceremonies."

— University of East London

If it's the timing you can't make work, not the dress, UEL lets graduates move between its two rounds. Summer graduates have been able to defer to the January ceremonies by emailing the Graduation Team within a week of the summer ceremonies ending, and a winter graduate who missed registration could move to September. Ask early, and check which ceremony your award date makes you eligible for: UEL sets a final-award deadline for each round.

Whatever you decide, check your address on UEL Direct. It's where your certificate goes.

UEL treats its awards ceremonies as formal occasions and asks graduates to dress smartly, ideally in a shirt or top that buttons up so the hood sits comfortably. It suggests bringing hair grips to keep the mortarboard on, and safety pins to fix the hood if you're not wearing a shirt.

Think about the day, too. There's no cloakroom on campus, so anything you bring stays with you or with a guest, and you'll be on your feet from registration through to the reception afterwards.