The Cairnmillar Institute conducts conferrals throughout the year. In addition, Cairnmillar holds one official Graduation Ceremony each year (normally in late April or early May, where eligible graduands from the other conferrals in the year prior, as well as the May conferral in the same year, can register to attend.
It may be possible for students who miss the registration cut-off or request to be marked a graduand before the next official graduation to graduate by ‘special conferral‘. See other FAQs for more information about the difference between Completion and Conferral.
A special conferral means that your completion is sent to the Cairnmillar Council at the next available meeting with a recommendation to confer (e.g. allow you to be considered graduated) at that meeting. It may also be called ad hoc conferral, out-of-cycle or special graduation.
Fees
An administrative fee of $380 applies for a Special Conferral. If you require your testamur and transcript to be posted, there is an additional $10 mailing fee within Australia, or additional for international addresses. If you choose to collect your documents from campus, they will be held for one month after issue before being destroyed. Students who do not collect their documents within this time will need to pay for re-prints should they make a future request.
Applications and Admin
If you would like to inquire or apply for Special Conferral of your degree or qualification, please email education@cairnmillar.edu.au for more information about the next available Council meeting date. After confirming your request for a special conferral with the agreed dates, an invoice will be issued and payment will need to be finalised at least two weeks prior to the next Council meeting, in order to ensure that requesting students are noted in the Council agenda for conferral approval. Please also note that Council meetings typically occur every three months, so late payments will result in special conferrals being delayed until the next meeting. If paying by electronic or bank transfer we recommend paying at least 3 days prior to the due date to ensure that the payment is received by our bank on time.
Ceremony Attendance
You cannot graduate in person if you graduate by Special Conferral (it is always ‘in absentia’). You will not normally attend the ceremony at a later date. You may still attend as a guest.