Postgraduate Exam Boards - Autumn 2021

The main PGT Exam Board period runs from 01 November – 12 November 2021.

Please see the Exam Boards website for key information and training materials for all Exam Board processes, including guidance on preparing for exam boards and policies and procedures for chairing and managing an exam board. 

The Postgraduate boards and ‘no detriment’

Please review the guidance on Changes for Covid-19 for information on the mitigations in place for postgraduate finalists. 

It may be necessary to apply manual award calculations to individual students’ records where they have not followed a standard path through their programme of study ie. students who have interrupted or repeated or modular flexible students who may have taken a range of credits across different years and require bespoke application of the Covid mitigations. 

Student Records colleagues are identifying these students prior to the boards and will indicate through the progression tasks that a manual calculation is required. Departments should indicate on their Query Management logs when mark entry has been completed for these students, at which point Student Records will add the calculated award to the record for review by the Board of Examiners.

Interim Awards

Postgraduate students who elect to leave their programme with an interim award or are eligible due to failure will need to have their awards calculated outside of the Portico progression tasks. Departments should indicate on their Query Management log if a student has elected to leave their programme with an interim award and Student Records colleagues will set up the award for review by the Board of Examiners. 

Extension to PGT End Dates

Any PGT student requiring a further extension to their end date past 31 October due to ECs, please add their details to your Faculty Query Management log and these will be updated accordingly. 

Release of Results

Students whose results are approved by Faculty by 5pm on Friday 26 November 2021, will receive an email to their UCL email account on Thursday 2 December 2021, with details of their results/award, and information regarding dispatch of their degree documentation.  Results will also be available for students to view on Portico. 

It is recommended that internal deadlines prior to the 26th November are set for Board administrators and Chairs of the board to complete their approvals, before the Faculty approval deadline.

Results approved by Faculty after 26 November 2021, will be processed and released as soon as possible after results release day. 

Departments may release provisional results to students ahead of the official release of results following UCL’s protocol for the release of provisional marks.

Degree Documentation

Students will receive their Degree Certificate and 5 copies of their official transcript by the end of April 2022, or within four months of conferral of their award where this is approved outside of the main cycle or by Chair’s Action. 

Students will be able to request a Statement of Award upon confirmation of their results via email.

Students can also place an order for an e-transcript via the online store ahead of receipt of their official documentation.  

Please note that due to the Christmas closure period and high volumes of requests, orders for e-transcripts placed after Friday 10 December 2021, may not be processed before UCL closes on Thursday 23rd December 2021.  

Normal verification services will resume from Tuesday 4th January 2022. 

Postgraduate Board Processes Refresher Training

A training session is scheduled for Wednesday 20 October 2.00 – 3.30pm to provide a refresher on the key Portico processes that should be completed before and after the Board of Examiners meetings to ensure the correct progression and award outcomes are approved for your students. This session will be relevant to all colleagues involved in the Portico Exam Board processes i.e. Board Administrators, Chairs of the Board and Faculty approvers. This will be a Teams Live event – the link will be shared when available. 

A recording of the session will be circulated for any colleagues unable to attend on the day. 

Key Dates and Deadlines

If you have any queries relating to the postgraduate exam board processes, please tag your Student Records team on your Faculty Teams channel or email examboards@ucl.ac.uk (staff queries only).