Congregation (university)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article refers to a specific usage of the term "congregation". For other uses, see congregation.

A congregation is a formal meeting of senior members of a university, especially in the United Kingdom.

Examples include the Regent House in the University of Cambridge, and the House of Congregation and the Ancient House of Congregation in the University of Oxford.

In recent times, very few congregations have actually been held, with most important business conducted by postal ballot of its members. The main exceptions are those held to formally award university degrees; stemming from this tradition, in some universities a graduation ceremony is known as a congregation, even if the ceremony is not a meeting of the university's governing body in the traditional sense.