毕业指完成某个学历阶段，并取得及格的成绩，符合学校规定的成绩及年级之后，学生会得到毕业证书。多数学校会举行证书的派发仪式，名为毕业典礼。不过参加毕业典礼并非取得毕业证书或学位证书的必要条件，一部份学生可能在毕业典礼举行时尚未达到毕业的资格但仍会出席毕业典礼，也有一些学生是在学期中就已达到毕业的资格，提前取得毕业证书或学位证书而离校。如果学生在其中一个学历阶段有留级太多年、教育部的人又不破例给超龄学生读，他们无法毕业，得不到毕业证书，不是毕业生。

Graduation getting a diploma or academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as graduands. The date of graduation is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. In the United States and Canada, the term is additionally increasingly being used to refer to the advancement from a primary or secondary school level. When ceremonies are associated, they usually include a procession of the academic staff and candidates and a valediction. At the college and university level the faculty will usually wear academic dress at the formal ceremonies, as will the trustees and degree candidates.