Student newsletter for final year students

Hello – welcome to a special edition newsletter, just for you as final year students at Leeds.


As the Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Education at the University of Leeds, I wanted to write and extend my warmest congratulations to you on completing your final year.

Unlike past years, where the countdown to leaving followed a familiar timeline with end of teaching, exams and graduation ceremonies, life is very different now and from when you began your journey as a student here in Leeds. Looking back over the years you’ve spent as a student here, your experience in many ways will be similar to many graduates, but with a unique journey and ending.

I hope you’re proud of everything you have achieved, I certainly am proud of you and want to thank you all for your understanding, patience and flexibility in the past two years – skills that will be vital to you in whatever you go on to do next. The time you spent at the University of Leeds is incredibly special. Whether it’s the friends you made, the skills you gained, or the societies you joined – I hope you cherish the memories and relationships you have made during your time at Leeds and look back fondly on your time studying here.

I look forward to seeing you all back on campus in spring 2022 to celebrate your achievements with you. In the meantime, use the information in this newsletter to guide you through the next few months, and to celebrate the incredible achievements you’ve made by graduating this year; remember, you’re now a member of our Alumni community and will always be a part of Leeds.

Lastly, thank you for allowing me and us all to be with you through your student journey. As graduates from Leeds, I know your voices, experience, and resilience will be very much part of the conversation, answers, and plans that help shape a more sustainable, fair and supportive planet for us all.

Best wishes

Professor Peter Jimack (Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Education)


Your certificate and things you need to do

The Graduation Team has been directly in touch with you about what you need to do to make sure you receive your degree certificates this summer. Thank you to those of you who have completed the process in Minerva. For those of you who haven’t registered to have your certificate sent to you, please email graduation@leeds.ac.uk

Your documents

For those of you who have registered to have your certificate sent to you before Tuesday 9 July, we will aim to post your documents to you from the week beginning Monday 16 August. Due to the complexity of this, it may take a few weeks for you to get your documents, so thank you in advance for your patience as our graduation team gets these sent out to you as quickly as possible.

We post out one degree certificate and one transcript. We know many of you may want to mark the occasion by posting a picture online – please try not to post a full picture of your certificate as this can put you at risk of scammers and fraudsters!

Postponed graduation celebrations

You will be invited by email to the spring 2022 graduation celebration event on campus.

We’ll email you in the coming weeks and months to share details of this with you. We’ll also be asking you for feedback to help us with the planning so please do share your thoughts as this will help us to provide you with the graduation experience that you want and deserve.


Forever Leeds: Welcome to Leeds alumni 

You’re now a member of the Leeds alumni community, and that’s a pretty special place to be. 300,000 Leeds graduates from over 190 countries are now forever by your side. 

But don’t just take our word for it. Our alumni have sent their messages of support to welcome you to our global community, which you can on the alumni website.

Make sure to visit our Class of 2021 page to find out exactly what it means to join our community, and make the most of life as a Leeds alum. 

Win a graduation portrait 

You’ll have lots of memories of being a Leeds student, and we know you've earned your degree in the face of extraordinary change. 

Share with us your Leeds memories and enter our prize draw to receive a unique Leeds graduation portrait.

Celebrate your results with us!

With results day coming up on Monday 19 July, we want to wish you all the best of luck! You’ve all worked incredibly hard and should be proud of everything you have achieved. We want to mark this moment for you – join us across our social media channels where we’ll be celebrating your results, together! 

Find out how to access your results, apply for resits and who to contact if you have any technical issues or questions. 


Careers support for life

Not sure about your next steps? Don’t worry – our Careers Service is here for you, for life. Whether you’re exploring graduate jobs straight away, thinking about further study, or just wanting to get a little more experience under your belt – we can help.

Make sure you register as a graduate on MyCareer - where you can book guidance appointments, get application support, fix up your CV, view vacancies and so much more. And there’s no rush, we’re here when you’re ready.

On Tuesday 3 August, the Careers Service will be running InLeeds, a series of online events just for graduates covering different sectors, skills and featuring employers in the Leeds and West Yorkshire area. Find out more and sign up on MyCareer.


Returning library books

Don’t forget to return any library books you may have. If you’re in or around Leeds, you can drop these off at our libraries. If you’re not in Leeds and don’t plan to return, you can return any library items you have on loan free of charge through a freepost returns service we have for finalists.

Visit our returns page on the Post Office website, fill in your details, and include Library as the department name to create your label. You can then print your label or if you don’t have access to a printer to receive a QR code which you can then take to a Post Office or Royal Mail Customer Service Point where they can print a label for you. For more information and to find your nearest returns point, visit the Royal Mail website

**Tip**

If your packaged items are bigger or heavier than Royal Mail’s limit of 20kg and 61cm (Length) x 46cm (Width) x 46cm (Depth), we recommend you split your items across multiple packages and create additional labels.


Take care, and stay safe. The Student Communications Team