- Doctoral hat
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Doctoral hat for the Doctor of Science (Technology) of the University of Oulu, on the top of its wooden storage case.
A doctoral hat (Swedish: doktorshatt, Finnish: tohtorinhattu) is a major part of the academic dress of Ph.D. recipients in Finland and Sweden. It is a silken top hat with a straight brim, although the hats of Finnish Doctors of Science (Technology) have an up-turned brim. Generally the colour of the hat is black, although a few faculties use coloured doctoral hats. On the front, the hat has a gold-coloured metallic emblem of the granting university or faculty. The hat is awarded in a solemn graduation ceremony.
Contents
Features
The basic colour of the hat is black. However, in Finland, other colors are found, as follows:
- Doctors of Theology use purple;
- Doctors of Medicine and Dentistry use dark green;
- Doctors of Law use crimson;
- Doctors of Fine arts use dark blue;
- Doctors of Music use sky blue.
Swedish doctoral hats are always black.
Obtainment and use
Doctoral hats are hand-made, with the owner's head measured using a device called a conformateur. The hat should rest on the top of the head. The typical price for the doctoral hat is around 500 euros.
A doctoral hat is always worn with the white tie style of formal dress in lieu of a tophat. In practice, the hat is mostly worn on academic occasions, such as opening ceremonies, commencement, and disputations. In the disputations, the supervising professor and the opponent carry their hats, but do not wear them. During disputations, the hats rest on the table, with the university emblems towards the audience.
A doctoral hat is personal and is usually not lent to others. Along with the doctoral sword (found in Finland only, and not in all faculties), doctoral tailcoat facings (in certain universities), doctoral bibles (in Theological faculties), and doctoral rings (in Sweden), it forms part of the doctoral academic regalia.
The hat is usually stored in a specially-made storage box.
See also
- Academic regalia
- Student cap
External links
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