Matriculation - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

In the British universities of Oxford, Cambridge,, Bristol and Durham, the term is used for the ceremony at which new students are entered into the register (in Latin matricula) of the university, at which point they become members of the university. Oxford requires matriculants to wear academic dress with subfusc during the ceremony. At Cambridge and Durham, policy regarding the wearing of academic dress varies amongst the colleges. Separate matriculation ceremonies are held by some of the colleges in Durham. Also at Durham, not all students are entered into the register, but one person from each college is selected to sign their own name for the whole college.

At the ancient universities of Scotland, particularly the University of St Andrews, matriculation involves signing the Sponsio Academica, a pledge to abide by university rules and to support the institution.

At British universities where there is no formal ceremony, the terms "matriculation", "enrollment" and "registration" are often used interchangeably by different institutions to describe the administrative process of becoming a member of the university.

At Oxford and Cambridge, matriculation was formerly associated with entrance examinations taken before or shortly after matriculation, known as Responsions at Oxford and the Previous Examination at Cambridge, both abolished in 1960. University-wide entrance examinations were subsequently re-introduced at both universities, but abolished in 1995. More limited subject-based tests have since been introduced.