PEP3A: Confirming the module portfolio for 2027/28

About the project

The Programme Excellence Project operates under clear institutional governance, including oversight by the PEP Project Board, reporting into UCL Education Committee and the Programme Amendment and Review Committee (PARC), and working in close partnership with Strategic Planning, Finance and Data & Insights.   

The overarching aim of PEP is to agree a common framework within which UCL’s undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses are designed and run. Through this shared framework, we aim to: 

• Improve student experience by offering realistic choices and ensuring that all students are part of a community.   
• Improve the staff experience by reducing complexity, administrative burden and unnecessary costs for departments.   
• Create shared spaces in the curriculum for our educational priorities, such as research-intensive education, the Grand Challenges, Education for Sustainable Development, cross-disciplinarity, employability, and the Student Life Strategy.   
• Improve UCL’s systems and processes – such as timetabling, module selection, assessment and course approval – so that they support departments and students effectively.   
• Ensure that UCL is making the best use of its resources.  

PEP3: Module Review (2025–2027) 

The third and final phase of the Programme Excellence Project – PEP3: Module Review – is now underway and will be delivered through a structured three stage process over two academic years to reduce pressures on academic and professional services staff.   

PEP3A: Confirming the module portfolio 

The first phase of PEP3 started in February 2026 and is almost complete. During this stage, faculties and departments were asked to review all modules within their portfolio and confirm which modules will run during 2027/28 and beyond, and which module records are no longer needed. We would like to thank all colleagues who have engaged with the PEP3A exercise which has helped to flag over one thousand module deliveries which are no longer required and can be withdrawn.  

Following completion of the PEP3A stage, modules which will be taught in 2027/28 and future years will be migrated into to CourseLoop in preparation for the later stages of the PEP project. 

PEP3B: Reviewing the module portfolio 

During the next phase of PEP3, faculties and departments will consider opportunities to amend their module portfolio, in alignment with existing regulations in the UCL Academic Manual and the UCL Curriculum Design Principles (approved by UCL Education Committee in January 2025 following community consultation in 2024). Faculties and departments will also consider how to implement the principles of the Module Operating Model which were provisionally approved by Education Committee on 26 February 2026, subject to some minor wording amendments.  

PEP3B will be a spreadsheet exercise, similar to the PEP2A ‘non-standard’ curriculum features exercise completed by most courses last year, but this time focused on individual modules. Using the UCL Academic Manual as a framework, departments and faculties will have the opportunity to feedback to PARC regarding whether they would like to align non-standard module features with existing regulations, or provide a rationale to retain non-standard elements. 

Updated curriculum and module definitions  

In February 2025, the PEP Team shared a UCL-approved Curriculum Definitions & Data Model document which standardised key curriculum terminology used as part of PEP implementation. On 26 February 2026, UCL Education Committee approved additional ‘Module and Collection Curriculum Definitions’ which build upon the existing definitions and have been developed to support PEP3. You can access updated definitions on the PEP SharePoint site. 

Learn more  

You can find more details and resources on the PEP SharePoint site and Courseloop SharePoint Site. The PEP Team can be reached by email at: pepteam@ucl.ac.uk