It was the first university graduation to be held after cancellations in August and December last year.
The 1pm ceremony was dedicated to those who graduated in absentia last year due to the cancellations, while the 4pm ceremony was for students of dentistry, medicine, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and radiation therapy.
Hayden Sims and Kasam Ali were meant to graduate last August, but a snap lockdown postponed their ceremony.
The graduation had continued to be pushed back, but now they had been able to finally send off their time at university together in the proper way, Mr Ali said.
He studied commerce management, while Mr Sims studied sport management.
The pair had long been friends and were flatmates while studying.
A lot had changed in the nine months since their original graduation date, with Mr Ali moving to Auckland and Mr Sims to Christchurch to further their careers.
Mr Sims even had a child, he said.
Gareth Taylor, of Invercargill, was meant to graduate in December with a Master of Business Administration, but finally celebrated his achievement on Saturday.
Most of his cohort had moved away and could not make it to the ceremony, but he had his family to celebrate with him.
This ceremony was the last chance he was going to give it before moving on, so it was awesome for it to finally go ahead, he said.
Prof Paul Brunton spoke at the 4pm ceremony and gave graduands a range of advice for their coming careers.
