Award Certificates

After completing your degree and receiving your results email from UCL with your final results, you will receive your Award Certificate.

New digital format available from December 2023

We launched our Digital Award Certificate service in December 2023 and students awarded from November 2023 onwards will now receive their Award Certificate in both hard copy and digital format.

In January 2024, we will also issue Digital Award Certificates to UG students who were awarded in summer 2023 and PG students who were awarded from September 2023.

Your Award Certificate is a legal document, verified by UCL, which evidences your award. You can share your Award Certificate with third parties to evidence your achievement, for example, to support applications for jobs, future studies and visa applications.

On this page you will find information on:

Notes for employers
Receiving your Hard Copy Award Certificate
Certified copies of your Hard Copy Award Certificate
Accessing and sharing your Digital Award Certificate
Name changes following the issue of your Award Certificate
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Need help? Get in touch

For information on replacement certificates, visit our Replacement Award Certificates webpage.

UCL will not be able to confer your award if you have an outstanding UCL tuition fee. 

Notes for employers

The hologram and reference number on a Hard Copy Award Certificate are evidence that the Award Certificate is verified by UCL.

UCL partners with Gradintelligence to provide Digital Award Certificates. Documents issued by Gradintelligence are digitally signed with an electronic seal; an advanced electronic signature (AdES) with a qualified electronic certificate (QES). These digital credentials are compliant with international standards and are legally valid, tamper-proof documents which our students and alumni can freely share with third parties, whenever they want, through the Gradintelligence share process.

Only Digital Award Certificates shared through the Gradintelligence share process are considered valid.

Receiving your Hard Copy Award Certificate

Certificate Dispatch and Delivery

Your Hard Copy Award Certificate will be dispatched within 3 months from the date that you receive your results email from UCL with your final results. Your Award Certificate will be sent to your home address on Portico - please make sure that your home address details are up to date.

Note: If your home address is outside the UK, the ‘address look-up’ function on Portico may generate inaccurate results, so please enter your address manually. It is essential to complete the City, Province/State/Region, Zipcode and Country fields correctly.  

Tip: Use the home address of a family member or friend who can receive your documents on your behalf if you will be moving in the coming months. If you live in shared accommodation, you may wish to consider using an alternative, secure home address.

UK Addresses

Documents are dispatched by first class Royal mail. You will receive an email to notify you when your documents are due to be dispatched.

EU and International Addresses

Documents are dispatched by DHL (International). You will receive an email to notify you when your documents are due to be dispatched with tracking information. Please ensure you provide an up-to-date telephone number as you may be called by DHL to arrange delivery of your documents.

Certified copies of your Hard Copy Award Certificate

UCL does not provide additional or certified copies of Hard Copy Award Certificates. A solicitor or notary public will be able to certify copies of your Hard Copy Award Certificate.

How to certify a copy of your Award Certificate.

Accessing and sharing your Digital Award Certificate

Students awarded from November 2023 will receive their Award Certificate in both hard copy and digital format (Digital Award Certificates for these students will be available from December). In January 2024 we will also issue Digital Award Certificates to UG students who were awarded in summer 2023 and PG students who were awarded from September 2023.

Your Digital Award Certificate provides a secure digital record of achievements as verified by UCL and you can share your Digital Award Certificate with third parties as outlined below.

UCL partners with Gradintelligence to provide Digital Award Certificates and Higher Education Achievement Records (HEARs). Documents issued by Gradintelligence are digitally signed with an electronic seal; an advanced electronic signature (AdES) with a qualified electronic certificate (QES). These digital credentials are compliant with international standards and are legally valid, tamper-proof documents which our students and alumni can freely share with third parties, whenever they want, through the Gradintelligence share process. Only Digital Award Certificates shared through the Gradintelligence share process are considered valid.

Activating your account with Gradintelligence

You will need to activate your Gradintelligence account in order to view / share your Digital Award Certificate.

If you cannot find this email or did not activate the link within 30 days of receiving it, you can follow the Gradintelligence account recovery process to gain access to your account). Once you have activated your Gradintelligence account, you will be able to log in to view / share your Digital Award Certificate.

If you have already activated your Gradintelligence account: When your Digital Award Certificate is available to view / share, you will receive a document update email from Gradintelligence (documentservices@gradintel.com). You will be able to log in to your Gradintelligence account to view / share your Digital Award Certificate. If you have forgotten your Gradintelligence username and / or password, you should follow the Gradintelligence account recovery process to gain access to your account. 

If you have previously received an invitation to activate your Gradintelligence account (e.g. to view your HEAR) but have not done so: When your Digital Award Certificate is available to view / share, you will receive a document update email from Gradintelligence (documentservices@gradintel.com).The link in the email will take you to the Gradintelligence Account Activation page where you can activate your account. You can then log in to your Gradintelligence account to view / share your Digital Award Certificate. If you would like to activate your Gradintelligence account before receiving the document update email, you can use the Gradintelligence account recovery process to do so.  

Accessing your Digital Award Certificate

Once you have activated your account, you can view your Digital Award Certificate at any time by logging in to Gradintelligence using the username and password that you created when you activated your account.

If you have forgotten your username and / or password, you should follow the Gradintelligence account recovery process to gain access to your account.

Sharing your Digital Award Certificate with third parties

Note: to share your Digital Award Certificate with Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE), please refer to Downloading your Digital Award Certificate to share with CSCSE.

You can share your Digital Award Certificate with a third party directly from your Gradintelligence account. You can specify who can see your Digital Award Certificate and how long they can view it for, and you can also request to be notified when your Digital Award Certificate has been viewed.

Follow the steps below to share your Digital Award Certificate:

Log into your account on Gradintelligence
Select ‘My Documents’
Click on ‘Share’ next to your Digital Award Certificate
Complete the Share Document form. You can use this form to specify who can view your Digital Award Certificate, how long they will have access to it, how many times they can view it and you can request to be notified when they have accessed it.
Click ‘Continue’
Check your details are entered correctly, tick the box to consent to your document being shared and click ‘Share Now’
The selected recipient will receive an email from documentservices@gradintel.com with a document access token which they can use to view your Digital Award Certificate.

Downloading your Digital Award Certificate to share with CSCSE

Follow the steps below to download your Digital Award Certificate to share with Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE):

Log in to your Gradintelligence account and click My Documents.
Your Award Certificate (and any other Digital Documents if you have them) will show on this page. Click the View button on your Award Certificate tile.
Click the download icon (top right hand side of your screen – it is an underlined arrow symbol).
Save your Digital Award Certificate.
You can now upload this Digital Award Certificate when completing the CSCSE application process.

View screenshots for this process: How to download your Digital Award Certificate to share with CSCSE [Word].

Gradintelligence account recovery process

Follow these steps if your activation link has expired, or you cannot remember your Gradintelligence username or password. 

Go to the account recovery page on Gradintelligence
Select University College London from the Institution dropdown list, enter your student number and Date of Birth, use Captcha to authenticate and click ‘Submit’
Choose a verification method
Once verified, you will be redirected to the account activation page where you will be asked to reconfirm your Date of Birth, set your new account username and password, and specify a security question and answer so that you can then use these to reset your password, should you forget it in the future.

Name changes following the issue of your Award Certificate

Your Award Certificate will be issued in the full name as it is registered on your student record on Portico. UCL will not re-issue your Award Certificate in a different name once you have received your award, except where an administrative error has occurred or where the University is required to make a retrospective change because the change is related to a gender reassignment, in which case UCL will need to receive legal proof of a name change such as a statutory declaration of name change, or Deed Poll, prior to the re-issue of the degree award documentation. 

Please refer to UCL's policy and guidance on name changes for students transitioning gender.

Please refer to UCL's policy and guidance on updating your student details.

If you have changed your name following completion of your course of study, (for example, through marriage, or by Deed Poll), and wish to demonstrate to a prospective employer or education institution that your Award Certificate or confirmation letter belongs to you, supporting documentation showing the name change should accompany the certificate.

FAQs

General

My certificate is wrong, how can I request an update?

Please log an askUCL query and select the 'Award Certificate' category. They will be able to assist.

I have an outstanding piece of work / some of my work is still being marked due to a deferral / extension. When will I receive my Award Certificate?

If you have outstanding piece of work or some of your work is still being marked, you will not receive your results / Award Certificate in line with the published timeline for your programme. Your department will be able to indicate a timeline for issue of your results / Award Certificate once you have submitted your work.

How can I change the name on my Award Certificate?

Your Award Certificate will be issued in the full name as it is registered on your student record on Portico. UCL will not re-issue your Award Certificate in a different name once you have received your award, except where an administrative error has occurred or where the University is required to make a retrospective change because the change is related to a gender reassignment, in which case UCL will need to receive legal proof of a name change such as a statutory declaration of name change, or Deed Poll, prior to the re-issue of the degree award documentation.

Please refer to UCL's policy and guidance on name changes for students transitioning gender.
Please refer to UCL's policy and guidance on updating your student details.

If you have changed your name following completion of your course of study, (for example, through marriage, or by Deed Poll), and wish to demonstrate to a prospective employer or education institution that your degree certificate or confirmation letter belongs to you, supporting documentation showing the name change should accompany the certificate.

Hard Copy Award Certificates

When will I receive my Hard Copy Award Certificate?

UK addresses: Documents are dispatched by first class Royal mail. You will receive an email to notify you when your documents are due to be dispatched.

EU and international addresses: Documents are dispatched by DHL (International). You will receive an email to notify you when your documents are due to be dispatched with tracking information. Please ensure you provide an up-to-date telephone number as you may be called by DHL to arrange delivery of your documents.

Where will my Hard Copy Award Certificate be sent to?

Tip: Use the home address of a family member or friend who can receive your documents on your behalf if you will be moving between accommodation in the coming months. If you live in shared accommodation, you may wish to consider using an alternative, secure home address.

Can I change the address that my Hard Copy Award Certificate is sent to?

Yes. You can update your home address details on Portico. You can typically make updates up to 2 weeks after your results being released but this date will be confirmed in your results email.

Note: If your home address is outside the UK, the ‘address look-up’ function on Portico may generate inaccurate results, so please enter your address manually. It is essential to complete the City, Province/State/Region, Zipcode and Country fields correctly.  

I have not received my Hard Copy Award Certificate, what should I do?

If you never received your Award Certificate because it was lost in the post, UCL Student Records will replace this free of charge. Please include your student number, date of birth, full name as registered at UCL and your home address in your request email to Student Records.

Request a replacement of my Award Certificate that was lost in the post.

My Hard Copy Award Certificate was damaged in the post, what should I do?

If you received your Award Certificate but it was damaged in the post, UCL Student Records will replace this free of charge. You must notify UCL Student Records and provide electronic evidence of your damaged Award Certificate. Please include your student number, date of birth, full name, delivery address and electronic evidence in your email request.

Request a replacement of my Award Certificate that was damaged in the post.

Can UCL provide a certified copy of my Hard Copy Award Certificate?

UCL does not provide additional or certified copies of Hard Copy Award Certificates. A solicitor or notary public will be able to certify copies of your Hard Copy Award Certificate.

Further information is provided on the How to Certify a Copy of your Award Certificate webpage.

Can I order a replacement Hard Copy Award Certificate (UCL awards)?

(Award Certificate that was lost, damaged or destroyed after it had been delivered)

Award certificates are legal documents and there should only ever be one in existence at any one time.

You must provide UCL Student Records with a sworn affidavit (statutory declaration form), signed in the presence of a Magistrate or Commissioner for Oaths, stating the circumstances that led to the loss, damage or destruction of the Award Certificate. If your lost Award Certificate is ever recovered, you must destroy it as it will no longer be valid.

Download the Statutory Declaration Form

Download the Statutory Declaration Form

You will then need to email your signed affidavit to the student records team. Please include your student number, date of birth, full name, reason for request of replacement certificate, delivery address and the statutory declaration form in your email request.

I would like to request a replacement of my Award Certificate that was lost, damaged or destroyed after it had been delivered.

Can I order a replacement Hard Copy Award Certificate (IoE awards)?

Replacement degree certificates for the awards made by the IOE prior to August 2008 (as listed below), are available from the University of London.

Transcripts for the the following awards are available via the on-line store.

Advanced Diplomas
Graduate Certificates
Certificate in Education
Postgraduate Certificates or Diplomas

All degree level awards made from September 2008 to 3 December 2014 were awarded by the IOE.

If you require a replacement degree certificate for an award made during this period, please refer to the replacement degree certificates section of this web page.

Can I order a replacement Hard Copy Award Certificate (University of London awards)?

The following students would have been awarded by the University of London:

UCL students with degree levels awards prior to July 2008 IOE students with degree level awards prior to August 2008 MBBS students awarded prior to July 2008. A very small number of students opted to receive a University of London degree between 2009 and 2011. Further information is available on the UCL Medical School MBBS degree certificates web page. School of Pharmacy students awarded prior to 2012

If you require a replacement degree certificate for an award made by University of London, please contact the Diploma Production office. Their details are:

Diploma Production Office
University of London
Stewart House
32 Russell Square
London
WC1B 5DN

Email: diploma.enquiries@london.ac.uk
Tel +44 (0) 207 862 8303
Fax +44 (0) 207 862 8287

Digital Award Certificates

When will I receive my Digital Award Certificate?

For all new awards: once you have received your results email from UCL and your Digital Award Certificate is available to view / share, you will receive an email from Gradintelligence. This will typically be within 2 weeks of receiving your results email from UCL.  

In January 2024, we will also issue Digital Award Certificates to UG students who were awarded in summer 2023 and PG students who were awarded from September 2023. These students will receive an email from Gradintelligence on 26 January 2024.

How will I receive my Digital Award Certificate?

You will need to activate your Gradintelligence account in order to view / share your Digital Award Certificate.

If you have not previously been invited to activate your Gradintelligence account (e.g. to view your HEAR), you will receive an email from Gradintelligence (accountregistration@gradintel.com) to your UCL email address with the Gradintelligence account activation link. You should click on this link and follow the steps to set up your Gradintelligence account. Please await your activation email (typically sent within 2 weeks of receiving your results email from UCL) and use the link provided. If you cannot find this email or did not activate the link within 30 days of receiving it, you can follow the Gradintelligence account recovery process to gain access to your account). Once you have activated your Gradintelligence account, you will be able to log in to view / share your Digital Award Certificate.

If you have already activated your Gradintelligence account: When your Digital Award Certificate is available to view / share, you will receive a document update email from Gradintelligence (documentservices@gradintel.com). You will be able to log in to your Gradintelligence account to view / share your Digital Award Certificate. If you have forgotten your Gradintelligence username and / or password, you should follow the Gradintelligence account recovery process to gain access to your account. 

If you have previously received an invitation to activate your Gradintelligence account (e.g. to view your HEAR) but have not done so: When your Digital Award Certificate is available to view / share, you will receive a document update email from Gradintelligence (documentservices@gradintel.com).The link in the email will take you to the Gradintelligence Account Activation page where you can activate your account. You can then log in to your Gradintelligence account to view / share your Digital Award Certificate. If you would like to activate your Gradintelligence account before receiving the document update email, you can use the Gradintelligence account recovery process to do so.  

Gradintelligence account recovery process

1. Go to the account recovery page on Gradintelligence
2. Select University College London from the Institution dropdown list, enter your student number and Date of Birth, use Captcha to authenticate and click ‘Submit’
3. Choose a verification method
4. Once verified, you will be redirected to the account activation page where you will be asked to reconfirm your Date of Birth, set your new account username and password, and specify a security question and answer so that you can then use these to reset your password, should you forget it in the future.

How long can I access my Digital Award Certificate for?

You will have lifelong access to your Digital Award Certificate.

How do I activate my account with Gradintelligence?

You will need to activate your Gradintelligence account to view / share your Digital Award Certificate.

Gradintelligence account recovery process

How does Gradintelligence store, process and keep my data secure?

The Gradintelligence Privacy Policy explains in detail the types of personal data that may be collected when you use Gradintelligence services. It also explains how you can exercise your rights in relation to your personal data, how they will store and process your data and keep it secure.

How is the integrity of my Digital Award Certificate assured through Gradintelligence?

Can I opt out of the Digital Award Certificate service / remove my data from the Gradintelligence systems?

Yes. You can request for your data to be removed from the Gradintelligence systems via their online Data Request Service. If you do this, you will no longer be able to access your Digital Award Certificate or other Digital Documents held by Gradintelligence, for example, your HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report).

I have more than one Gradintelligence account, can I merge my accounts?

You may have more than one Gradintelligence account (for example, you may also have an account at another institution or you may have self-registered an account via the Gradintelligence Sign Up function in addition to the account created for you by UCL).
If this is the case, you can merge the data into one from within your accounts following the steps below (note that both accounts must be activated in order to merge them):

Login to one of your accounts (this will become your primary account username and email address for all future access to documents from all universities).
Click on ‘User Settings’, represented by a cog icon in the top right hand corner.
Under ‘General’ settings scroll down the page to the ‘Merge Accounts’ sections, and click on the orange ‘Merge Accounts’.
You will then be prompted to login to your second account. When you do so all your data will be merged into one account.
Once this process is complete, you will be able to switch from one account to the other by selecting from a drop down menu in the banner at the top of your account page.

How do I share my Digital Award Certificate with a third party?

Note: to share your Digital Award Certificate with CSCSE, please refer to the FAQ – how do I download my Digital Award Certificate to share with CSCSE?

Follow the steps below to share your Digital Award Certificate:

1. Log in to your account on Gradintelligence
2. Select ‘My Documents’
3. Click on ‘Share’ next to your Digital Award Certificate
4. Complete the Share Document form. You can use this form to specify who can view your Digital Award Certificate, how long they will have access to it, how many times they can view it and you can request to be notified when they have accessed it.
5. Click ‘Continue’
6. Check your details are entered correctly, tick the box to consent to your document being shared and click ‘Share Now’ 7. The selected recipient will receive an email from documentservices@gradintel.com with a document access token which they can use to view your Digital Award Certificate.

How do I download my Digital Award Certificate to share with CSCSE?

Follow the steps below to download your Digital Award Certificate to share with CSCSE:

Log in to your Gradintelligence account and click My Documents.
Your Award Certificate (and any other Digital Documents if you have them) will show on this page. Click the View button on your Award Certificate tile.
Click the download icon (top right hand side of your screen – it is an underlined arrow symbol).
Save your Digital Award Certificate.
You can now upload this Digital Award Certificate when completing the CSCSE application process.

Screenshots for this process are provided in Downloading your Digital Award Certificate to share with CSCSE.

I can’t remember my Gradintelligence account details, how can I access my account?

If you cannot remember your Gradintelligence username or password, you should follow the account recovery process as follows:

I did not activate my Gradintelligence account within 30 days of receiving the activation email, what should I do?

If your activation link has expired, you should follow the account recovery process as follows:

I cannot access my UCL email, how can I activate my Gradintelligence account?

You can still access your Gradintelligence account using the Gradintelligence account recovery process as follows:

For email access: the Get your UCL Email for Life webpage provides information about accessing your UCL branded email account after you have graduated. This includes information about how to log in, change or reset your password.

I don’t know my student number which is required for the Gradintelligence account recovery process, what should I do?

Your results email from UCL contains your student number.

Please log an askUCL query and select the 'My Student Record' or 'Award Certificate' category. They will be able to confirm your student number.

Need help? Get in touch

If you have a query or require information relating to your Award Certificate, log an enquiry via askUCL.

askUCL