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Hoods of the Month

Honorary Life Member, Royal School of Church Music

[f1], blue lined silver.

The RSCM has three honorary awards: ARSCM, FRSCM, and HonRSCM. All three hoods are blue, and lined with silver (ARSCM), red (FRSCM), or ivory (HonRSCM). Many sources say the shell is royal blue, which it is not, and some say the lining is bound over.


1st July 2022

Member, Institute of Analysts & Programmers

[a1], black lined gold tipped royal blue.

Founded in 1972 as the University Computer Association, in 1981 it changed its name to the Institution of Analysts and Programmers, and was incorporated in 1992. It has four awards: Fellow, Member, Graduate, and Associate Member: the latter two have no robes. The hoods for the FIAP and MIAP are another variant on black, blue, and gold, with the FIAP hood being Cambridge shape in black, lined gold and bordered blue.


1st June 2022

PGDip Leicester

[s6], cherry red unlined, and bound on the cowl with a triple twisted cord of dark green, light blue, and gold.

This hood is basically a bachelor’s hood but without the faculty lining. Leicester had used its hoods for degrees validated at other institutions but differenced with a cord binding: the green, blue, and gold one was used at Bishop Grosseteste College in Lincoln; it is not clear why it was chosen for the PGDip hood. Undergraduate certificates and diplomas have this hood without the cord.


1st May 2022

PhD, East London

[f1], dark blue lined and bound 1” chilli red damask

From 1992, UEL used a simple and elegant system based round dark blue and ‘chilli red’ silk, which was damasked with the university’s emblem. However, in 2020, the university introduced a new system based on indigo, teal, and black.


1st April 2022

MSc, Strathclyde

[f1], saltire blue silk lined and bound 0.5” gold silk.

All Strathclyde hoods are made in ‘saltire blue’, and lined with white (Arts) or gold (Sciences), and further bound with various colours to denote other degrees: the lining depends on which of the two better suits, so a red binding on the Arts hood is Laws, but in the Science hood is Architecture. One peculiarity is that the doctors (both PhD and higher) revert to the relevant bachelor’s hood. However, the system is starting to break down, with a number of exceptions now being included.


1st March 2022

DSc St Andrews

[f10], amaranth silk lined white satin

St Andrews reintroduced hoods in 1860. The faculty colours are borrowed from the French system, so Science is amaranth. Doctors’ hoods are made in the faculty colour (as is the robe) and lined with white satin.


1st February 2022

Diploma, Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama

[s4] modified, maroon stuff bordered 3" pink taffeta.

The hood is made in a modified Edinburgh shape - the liripipe is omitted, and the neckband is cut straight. It was used for awards made before the Academy (now the Royal Scottish Conservatoire) gained degree-awarding powers. There was also a Diploma in Stage Management (hood bordered 3" white), and in Dramatic Art (hood fully lined white).


1st January 2022

MA, Harvard

[s4], black silk lined crimson silk

Harvard uses a single hood for all its degrees, and does not follow the Intercollegiate Code. This hood is effectively the Oxford MA hood as it was used when Harvard started to use robes: it is in the Edinburgh shape, black, lined with crimson.


28th December 2021

Business & Technology Education Council

Sometimes confused with the (admittedly rare) degree of BTech, this hood is used by holders of certain awards - principally the HND and HNC - of the Business & Technology Education Council (now part of EdExcel). The hood, in [a1] shape, is in the BTEC colours of red and blue, and, despite strong advice from the robemakers to invert them, the Council insisted on red lined blue: it is, therefore, frequently criticized for looking at first glance like a doctoral hood - mainly DPhil(Oxon) and LL.D(Lond).


1st December 2021

MEng, University of Liverpool

Liverpool's scheme (1903) reproduces that of Edinburgh almost entirely, but with different faculty colours - and Liverpool does allow its doctors scarlet hoods! Also, Liverpool hoods have the lining bound over, while Edinburgh ones are lined edge-to-edge. Orange is the faculty colour for engineering. The system creates hoods in closely-related disciplines by adding borders inside the hood, so the MEng, a first degree, wears the MScEng hood (black lined orange) with a 1" border of white set 1" in.


1st November 2021

BM/BCh, University of Glasgow

Glasgowu's hoods, which were originally simple shape, were changed to full in 1893, and adopted the then-current version of the Cambridge shape, including its method of lining, whereby the cowl is lined for about 1" and the cape bordered inside for about 4", so it appears to be fully lined. Bachelors and masters wear a black hood lined with faculty colour; the bachelors are differenced with a scarlet cord round the cape (before 1937, a half-inch border of scarlet cloth); masteru's hoods are lined and bound. The faculty colour for Medicine is scarlet.


1st October 2021

MD, University of Wales

The Welsh School (later, College) of Medicine opened in 1931, and formed a constituent institution of the federal University of Wales, awarding degrees in Medicine and Surgery, and in Dentistry. They were slotted into the existing scheme, and given their own faculty colours, but the MB,BCh and BDS, although simple shape like the other bachelors, are fully lined and not bordered, thus marking their longer period of study. Medicine and Surgery was given green shot black as its faculty silk, but for some reason, the hoods are also bound with white. As the green/black silk is not used for any other degrees, it is hard to see why: bindings were later added to existing hoods to make new ones in closely-related disciplines: Librarianship used the Arts hoods bound white, and the MBA uses the MScEcon hood bound blue. The same happened with the Dentistry degrees: they were assigned blue shot white and bound purple, though the unbound hoods were later given to the Pharmacy degrees.

1st September 2021

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