As graduation approaches, it’s important to make sure you’re fully prepared for life after university, both academically and practically. Whether you’re finishing up assignments, returning library books, or planning your next steps, our Library and IT Essentials Checklist for Summer 2025 is here to help. From saving your work and managing your university email to accessing alumni services, this guide ensures you don’t miss a thing as you wrap up your time at Stirling.
Email – opt-in if you want to continue to access your student email account after graduation
Want to keep using your University email after you graduate? You can, just let us know! Graduates can retain access to their email accounts for up to two years, but you’ll need to opt in. To do this, click the opt-in banner on your portal homepage. After graduation, you can access your email directly at: https://office365.stir.ac.uk.
OneDrive
- If you’re a continuing student, your OneDrive account will be temporarily inaccessible; however, your data will be preserved and available once your account is reopened.
- If you’re not enrolling in another course at Stirling, your access to OneDrive will end. In this case, please make sure to back up any files you wish to keep by saving them to another location.
Access to Office apps after graduation
After you graduate, your access to Microsoft Office apps will end. However, you have a few options:
- Subscribe to Office 365: You can purchase a monthly or annual subscription directly from Microsoft. Please use a personal email address, not your University of Stirling email, when signing up.
- Explore free alternatives: Many free cloud storage services include office apps, as well as free alternatives to Microsoft Office that you can use.
- Continuing students: If you’re enrolling in another course at Stirling, your access to the full Office 365 suite will be restored once you’re fully registered.
Transfer your print/copy credit
If you’re finishing your studies and have leftover credit on your print/copy account, you can transfer it to a continuing student. While we recommend keeping your balance low, any remaining funds (minimum £5) can be passed on.
Please note:
- The £6 free annual allocation and any departmentally added funds are non-transferable and non-refundable.
- Transfers must be at least £5, we cannot process smaller amounts.
To request a transfer, email information.centre@stir.ac.uk with:
- Your username
- The name and username of the student you’d like to transfer the credit to
Keep your references after graduation
RefWorks
As an alumni you may continue to use RefWorks for as long as the University continues to subscribe to RefWorks. Use one of the two methods below.
- Update to an Alumni RefWorks account.
- Export your references to alternative free referencing software such as Mendeley or Zotero.
It is very important that you make arrangements to transfer your references before you actually leave the University. It is much easier to help you with this process while you still have a University network account so that you can access the University Portal and RefWorks.
EndNote
The University’s EndNote licence only covers current staff and students. When you leave the University EndNote must be removed from your personal device(s). You may use one of the following methods to retain access to your references and PDFs:
- Purchase your own copy of EndNote and transfer your library to it.
- Sign up for a free EndNote Online account if you do not have one already and synchronise your records to it.
- Export your references to alternative referencing software (e.g. Mendeley or Zotero which are free).
- Create a Compressed library (.enlx)back up file which can be transferred to colleagues in your research group or imported to EndNote at another University.
Return borrowed items
As you prepare to leave the University, please make sure to:
- Return all library books
- Return borrowed laptops
- Return any multi-factor authentication (MFA) tokens you’ve been issued
- Pay any outstanding library fines
This helps keep resources available for others and ensures your account is in good standing.
Download your submitted work from Canvas
To save a copy of your submitted assignments:
- Log in to Canvas
- Click on Account (top left menu)
- Select Files
- Hover over the Submissions folder
- Click the three dots next to the folder on the right-hand side
- Choose Download
This will download all your submitted work in one go.
Keep your LinkedIn Learning history after graduation
Link your UoS LinkedIn Learning account to your personal LinkedIn account to ensure that your learning history is retained. Whilst you will no longer be able to access LinkedIn Learning content for free after your University account is deleted, you will have the option to sign up for a paid LinkedIn Learning account with your entire learning history maintained. Information on how to connect your Learning account and personal profile can be found on LinkedIn’s Connecting your LinkedIn profile guide.
If you have any questions about your IT/Library account, please contact the Information Centre by email on information.centre@stir.ac.uk or fill in our Ask IT Form on UniDesk.
Finally, Information Services wishes you the very best for the future. You’re always welcome to return to the library for a visit, and if you’d like to borrow books, you can apply for Alumni Membership.
Congratulations on your graduation!