Conferment Ceremony Events

Instructions:

• Participants are asked to respect the event by following the dress code and arriving on time. The dress code for honorary doctors and young doctors is a tailcoat or a long, colourful evening gown (see detailed instructions Dress Code).
• There are no assigned seats at the buffet dinner of the Sword Whetting Ceremony.
• Young doctors are asked to remain with their group in their designated sharpening hall until the sharpening of their group is completed.
• You can register for the Sword Whetting Ceremony concurrently with your registration for the Conferment Ceremony. Once the registration period ends, we are unable to accommodate any new participants or offer spots due to cancellations. Attendance at the event requires prior registration.

Instructions:

The Conferment Ceremony is followed by many traditions and symbols dating back to the Middle Ages. It is an important celebration for young doctors, marking the valuable conclusion of years of research work. Therefore, we ask all participants to respect the event by following the instructions and etiquette:

• Participants are requested to honour the event by following the dress code and arriving on time. Detailed instructions for dressing can be found at Dress Code.
• Young doctors, honorary doctors, university administration, professors etc. arrive to Conferment Ceremony act in procession and leave the act in procession. Guests and companions of doctors do not join this procession. Instead, they go straight to their own places in main festive hall. The order of the procession can be found from the programme which is send to all participants.
• All doctors participating in the ceremony (e.g. university staff, invited guests, and companions) may wear a doctoral hat or an equivalent symbol of doctoral status from a foreign university during the event.
• Guests, e.g. companions of doctors, are expected to arrive in the hall well in advance, about 10 minutes before the start of the Conferment Ceremony. Latecomers are only admitted immediately after the Conferment procession. After this, latecomers are not allowed inside.
• All participants are seated in a certain order according to their roles. Seating has significance in the course of the act and in exiting the hall. Therefore, participants are requested to sit only in their assigned seats.
• Seating is allocated based on registrations, so no additional persons can be admitted to the hall.
• The Conferment Ceremony should be observed quietly while seated, and it is not customary to move around in the hall or applaud for those who are being conferred.
• Photographing or video recording of the Conferment Ceremony does not belong to the etiquette of the ceremony. There are official photographers present and photos taken by them will be available for all the participants after the festivities.
• It is not possible to register for the Conferment Ceremony after the registration has closed and no cancellation seats are available.

Instructions:

• Buses take all participants of the Conferment Ceremony festivities to the city centre. All participants are welcome to join the procession in the centre as well as the ecumenical service (including companions and additional accompanying persons of young doctors and honorary doctors).
• After the ecumenical service, buses take all participants back to university (honorary doctors + companions to the hotel).
• The order of the procession is based on different roles that participants have (e.g. young doctors, companions, personnel of the university). Order of the procession can be found from the programme sent to all participants by post. It is advisable to familiarize oneself with the order in advance, but also heralds help to form the procession.
• Coats and umbrellas are not used in the procession but if it rains, the procession will be cancelled, and buses take all participants straight to the cathedral.
• All doctors can wear doctoral hats or other symbols of doctoral degree that may in use at universities abroad.
• Everyone can attend the ecumenical church service: also people who have not attended the Conferment Ceremony festivities are welcome. Participants of the Conferment Ceremony festivities (the procession) enter the cathedral first, after which other people may also join the service.
• Church service is ecumenical, and it is possible to join the service regardless of one’s religious beliefs.
• If one wishes to join the procession in the city centre, but does not want to join the ecumenical service, it is possible to leave the procession just before entering the cathedral. There are heralds guiding. For those who leave the procession and do not join the ecumenical service, there are buses waiting to take them back to the university.

Instructions:

• All participants are kindly asked to honour the occasion by following the dress code and arriving in time. More detailed information about the dress code can be found here: Dress Code.
• All doctors (also guests and companions) may wear doctoral hat or equivalent symbols of doctoral degree of the other universities.
• The Chair of the Conferment Ceremony Committee (+ avec) and Rector of the University of Oulu (+ avec) will welcome all participants by shaking hands with them before guests enter the dinner hall. If there are instructions considering the arrival given in the programme, please, kindly follow them.
• The seating in the ball is based on different roles of the participants and on tradition. For example, young doctors and their companions are seated by faculties and the places of other guests on dinner tables depends on their role or their work position. It is not possible to ask to be placed on certain table or seat.
• Serving of food is based on seating order. Therefore, in order to secure that special dietary needs can be fulfilled, the places should not be changed during the banquet. It is also not customary to change the places.
• It is advisable to be seated during the speeches to appreciate the speech and speaker. According to traditional etiquette, one should stay in one’s place until the main course has been eaten unless is necessary to move (to rest room, for example).
• After the banquet has finished, it is time for the old dances. After these traditional dances, the evening continues in informal way (carrying of the conferrers of the degrees, swords lined up in honour of conferrers of the degrees, giving up the herald ribbons). There will be dance, music, socializing and a bar where refreshments can be bought. The evening will end with the speech to the rising sun.
• It is by no means obligatory to dance old dances. Also audience is needed! For those, who wish to dance old dances, there will be rehearsals. Timetable of the rehearsals can be found here: Information for Guests
• If you wish to participate in banquet and ball, please, note that you should register to them at the same time when registering to the Conferment Ceremony. Once the registration has ended, it is unfortunately not possible to take new registrations anymore and no cancellation seat are available. It is not possible to participate the banquet and ball without registration.

Instructions:

• Casual dress, it is possible to wear a Finnish student cap or equivalent.
• A joint bus transportation is organised from the centre of the city to Maikkula Mansion and back, so it is not necessary to use one’s own car etc.
• Sailing trip is actually a playful rowing competition on the Oulu River. Everyone participating the event is welcome to take part on the competition, but it is not compulsory. It is possible to only watch the competition.
• Registration for the Sailing Trip is done upon registration for the Conferment Ceremony festivities. It is not possible to register for the event once the registration for the Conferment Ceremony is closed and unfortunately there are no cancellation places. It is not possible to join the event without registration.