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Published for 2023-24
| 4.1 Principles of Programme Amendment | 4.2 Programme Amendment Classifications |
4.1 Principles of Programme Amendment
| 1. | UCL has an obligation to provide clear, accurate and timely information to prospective students, applicants, offer holders and current students. |
| 2. | UCL also promotes the importance of offering an adaptive, research led curriculum in preparing its students to contribute to and participate fully in the private, academic and wider public arena. |
| 3. | As such, the principle regarding amendments to any part of a programme is that changes should be approved prior to the opening of a new application cycle and should apply to the next new cohort of students registered on the programme for the forthcoming academic year. |
| 4. | Where it is necessary to make a programme amendment after applications have opened, UCL has obligations to its applicants, offer holders and current students. |
| 5. | If a programme has already received applications, the applicants must be informed of any amendment that has been approved, the rationale for the amendment, and the process by which they can transfer or terminate their application if they so wish. |
| 6. | If UCL has already issued offers of admission to a programme, the offer holders must be consulted on the proposed change, informed of the rationale, notified of the outcome and assisted with transferring or terminating their application if they so wish. |
| 7. | Where it is intended for the programme amendment to affect current students or students that have met the requirements of an accepted offer, these students must be consulted and give their agreement to the amendments. The amendment cannot be approved without this agreement. |
| 8. | Where an amendment to a current programme is necessary due to circumstances outside of UCL’s control, such as the sudden loss of a member of academic staff or the outcome of a PSRB visit, the programme amendment must be approved by Education Committee’s nominee. |
| 9. | Amendments to individual modules are covered in Section 5: Module Amendment. Amendments to modules that are compulsory for a programme of study will trigger the programme amendment process where individually, or in combination with changes to other modules, they represent a programme amendment as defined below. |
| 10. | If it is proposed to amend a module delivered in conjunction with a UCL Academic Partner, UCL’s Senior Policy Advisor (Academic Partnerships) should be consulted in the first instance. |
| 11. | Consideration should also be given to ensuring that any conditions of relevant Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Bodies are satisfied upon amendment. |
| 12. | Amendments cannot be made to programme codes assigned by Education Services. |
| 13. | The addition or removal of existing optional/elective modules can be undertaken through the Curriculum Data Management (CDM) process where programme diets are updated. It does not require the completion of a Programme Amendment Form but use of optional/elective modules outside of the programme’s lead department must be agreed with the relevant teaching department. Evidence of this agreement should be retained. |
| 14. | Where it is intended for a programme amendment, such as a change in title, to apply to a programme that recruits both to the full qualification and its associated interim qualifications, this must be clearly stated, and an updated programme summary provided for each qualification. |
| 15. | Information on programme length and modes of attendance can be found in Chapter 3, Registration Framework for Taught Programmes. |
| 16. | All programme amendment submissions must include a tracked-change Programme Summary document. The Student Lifecycle and MarComms teams require this in order to accurately reflect, on UCL systems, the proposed amendments. |
| 17. | All programme amendments for the forthcoming academic year (2024-25), must be submitted for approval by 9th June 2023. |
| 18. | All programme amendments for the academic year 2025-26 should be submitted for approval by the end of Term 3 2023-24. |
| 19. | Any programme amendments submitted after the cut-off date for a specific academic year will be deemed late and therefore subject to an additional process and level of approval, as detailed in Annex 7.4.2. |
4.2 Programme Amendment Classifications
| 1. | Programme amendments are split into three different classifications – major, moderate and minor. The level of authority required for each classification is different, as is the process which must be followed, but all programme amendments must be requested on a Programme Amendment Form (Annex 7.4.1). Major and moderate amendments must be reviewed by an external scrutineer, and all must be approved by the Head of Department and the Faculty. |
| 2. | This system is in place to safeguard the academic standards of qualifications, to ensure that there is appropriate information sharing between faculties, and to ensure that the incremental and cumulative change to programmes is monitored and recorded. |
| 3. | An indicative list of the types of programme amendments that can be requested and their corresponding classification, can be found in the table below: |
Major Amendments: | |
1. Addition, amendment or removal of a third or more of the overall credit value of the programme n.b. Diet changes within an approved programme diet will be managed via the Curriculum Maintenance cycle (detailed Section 8) | |
| 2. Change of programme title | |
| 3. Change of route or pathway title | |
| 4. Addition or withdrawal of routes or pathways within a programme | |
| 5. Addition of non-condonable modules or making existing modules non-condonable | |
| 6. Change to the intended qualification and/or FHEQ level e.g. MSc, PG Dip, BA | |
| 7. Change to the credit value of the programme | |
| 8. Amendment to the programme’s entry requirements, related to specific PSRB requirements/registration/loss of accreditation | |
Moderate Amendments: | |
9. Change to the advertised duration and/or addition of a placement or period of study abroad* *For placements, please refer to the Placement Pack in Chapter 8 of the UCL Academic Manual and submit completed paperwork alongside the Programme Amendment Form. For Study Abroad, please submit the UG Affiliate / Study Abroad programme checklist (Annex 7.2.6) alongside the Programme Amendment Form. | |
| 10. Change to, or addition of, the programme’s location(s) of study, e.g. campus-based/mixed-mode or change of main teaching campus | |
| 11. Converting interim qualifications into stand-alone programmes of study | |
| 12. Temporarily suspending recruitment to a programme of study (or one of its named routes) | |
13. Change to the programme’s Progression and Award Rules** **Any proposed changes to a programme’s Progression and Award rules that are outside the existing regulations, require approval from the Quality and Standards Committee (QSC). Please consult academicregulations@ucl.ac.uk in the first instance. | |
| 14. Converting non-condonable modules to condonable | |
| 15. Other changes to the programme at the discretion of the Faculty Tutor | |
Minor Amendments: | |
16.Addition, amendment or removal of under a third of the overall credit value of the programme n.b. Diet changes within an approved programme diet will be managed via the Curriculum Maintenance cycle (detailed Section 8) | |
| 17. Removal or addition of classifiable interim or alternative qualification(s) | |
| 18. Removal or addition of a new mode of study e.g. part-time or flexible/modular | |
| 19. Change to or addition of a point of entry | |
20. Amendment to the programme’s PSRB accreditation status, including: a) New PSRB accreditation application; | |
| 21. Recognition/change to an existing PSRB accreditation or recognition status. | |
22. Amendment to the programme’s entry requirement, if within UCL standard entry requirements including: a) English language requirement; | |
| 4. | Major programme amendments must be authorised by the Head of Department and the Faculty, they must be scrutinised by a suitably qualified external scrutineer and they must be submitted to UCL Central Services (acadserv.pmap@ucl.ac.uk) for final approval. This to ensure that academic standards are maintained and incremental or cumulative changes to programmes are recorded. |
| 5. | Moderate programme amendments must be authorised by the Head of Department and the Faculty, they must be scrutinised by a suitably qualified external scrutineer and they must be submitted to UCL Central Services (acadserv.pmap@ucl.ac.uk) for information. This is to ensure that any changes are recorded centrally and circulated to other faculties and relevant professional services departments. |
| 6. | The Chair of PMAP can nominate a moderate programme amendment for additional scrutiny by PMAP where they feel that the cumulative impact of the amendment warrants it. |
| 7. | Minor programme amendments must be authorised by the Head of Department and the Faculty and submitted to the Student Lifecycle Team (lifecycle@ucl.ac.uk). This is to ensure that any amendments to programmes can be recorded in the student information system and circulated to relevant professional services departments. |