Graduation documents
Find out how to get graduation certificates and documentation for sponsored students.
Hard copy graduation certificates
Students will receive hard copies of their documents onstage at their graduation ceremonies.
If students choose to not attend their graduation ceremony, their certificate will be printed and posted to the permanent address on their student record. Please ensure that all personal details and address information is accurate and up-to-date. Students can make any changes via Liverpool Life.
Sending certificates to the student's permanent address
We strongly advise that all students order their graduation certificates through DHL. We prioritise sending out DHL orders, so they'll be dispatched from our office first. This service is tracked and ensures arrival in a few days. We can't confirm how long certificates will take to arrive if students use a different service provider, because we can't track the orders.
To order a certificate through DHL, select the location of the permanent address to which it will delivered:
Sending certificates to sponsors
If students don't attend their ceremonies and the documents need to be sent to the sponsor or embassy, then they must be ordered through DHL must be ordered. Please ensure that the sponsor or embassy address is used on the DHL order, rather than the graduate's permanent address.
When will the certificates be ready?
Absentia certificates start to be prepared the week after graduation ceremonies take place. As previously discussed, DHL orders are prioritised and are the first to be sent out, however, it does still take some time to get these ready (we typically have to prepare upwards of a few hundred documents).
We predict that absentia graduates, whose documents are being sent overseas via DHL, can expect to receive them from 7 August 2024. We expect all documents to arrive by the end of August.
Once the mailroom processes DHL orders, the student will automatically receive an email with their tracking number. It will be sent to the email address they used on their order. When they get this email, they can track their documents.
This process is the same for December graduations, but the expected dates of arrival will change.
Accessing the graduate document portal
Students have been sent an email with details on how to register on the graduate document portal. Please contact the verify team at verify@liverpool.ac.uk if you have any issues with accessing the portal.
All graduate students have been provided with official and verified digital graduation degree certificates and transcripts (e-HEARs) as usual through the Graduate Document Portal.
Graduates should share official documents through the graduate document portal with you, which is all verified. To ensure the documents are verified, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access and verify the student's degree details and the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR). This will arrive when the student decides to share the documents.
Only documents accessed through this process and portal can be considered legal, valid and verified by the University of Liverpool.
If you're receiving the documents directly from the students, not from the portal, they should not be accepted and should be considered invalid. Students are informed of this throughout the process and cannot directly download their award documentation. Please advise the students to share their documentation with you via the graduate document portal.
All documents are personally signed with a cryptographic signature for the individual. This means the document can be verified and validated, ensuring authenticity. This confirms the identity of each person who signed the document and the document's integrity, confirming that the document has not been altered in transit.
Release of digital documents
HEAR and E-certificate are issued approximately 10 working days after the graduation ceremony has taken place.
As long as students have registered for the graduate document portal, they'll receive an email when they're available.