Graduates and associates of

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

wear its academic dress. After gaining its independence from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 2007, graduates began wearing Imperial academic dress in 2008. The unifying colour for Imperial's academic dress is purple after the work by

William Henry Perkin Sir William Henry Perkin (12 March 1838 – 14 July 1907) was a British chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first commercial synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in tryin ...

First degrees

All hoods for first degrees are black, part lined with white watered silk, with a narrow purple velvet band. Graduates are distinguished by the colour of the neckband, which denotes the faculty. No hat is worn.

Postgraduates

Imperial College London graduation gowns

Postgraduate masters students wear a black hood, fully lined with white watered silk, with a narrow purple velvet band. As with first degree recipients, the faculty is denoted by neckband colour and no hat is worn.

Colours

The neckband colour is associated with the faculty in which the degree was taken, rather than the name of the degree. Engineering - (BSc (Engineering), BEng, MEng, MSci, MSc and MRes) Silver Grey Medicine - (MBBS, MSc, MEd, MRes and MPH) Scarlet Science - (BSc, MSci, MSc, MRes) Saffron Humanities - (MSc and MRes) Purple, bound white watered silk Business - (MSc, MBA and MRes) Pink PG certificate and diploma recipients wear black neckbands. MPhil graduates also wear black neckbands, but wear a hood that is fully lined with purple, with a narrow white band.

Doctorates

Using the

Groves classification system The Groves Classification is a numbering system to enable the shape of any academic gown or hood to be easily described and identified. It was devised by Nicholas Groves to establish a common terminology for hoods and gowns to remedy the situation ...

, PhD, DEng and MD graduates wear a ''Cambridge doctors 1' shape gown of purple cloth, with front facings of white watered silk with a 1" purple velvet ribbon ½" from outside edges of facings. The sleeves are purple and held back with white twisted cords and buttons. The hood is purple, fully lined and bound around the gown with ½" white watered silk, and with a purple velvet ribbon ½" from the cowl edge. Research doctorate recipients wear a hat, which is a black velvet Tudor bonnet with purple cord and tassel. Imperial DSc recipients wear a similar gown but with the sleeves lined with white watered silk and held back with purple twisted cords and buttons. Their hat is a purple velvet Tudor bonnet with white cord and tassel.

References

{{Portal bar, London

Culture of Imperial College London