Programme Excellence Project (PEP): Launching UCL’s Curriculum in 2027 to make the future

In this final instalment of our Programme Excellence Project (PEP) staff news series we explain how PEP is helping us create a future-forward curriculum and reaffirm the value of a UCL degree. We remind colleagues what we have already achieved and outline next steps for PEP as we look to launch the new curriculum in 2027. 

Our earlier briefings:    

• PEP: Why we are doing it and how does it link to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)?  
• PEP: governance and partnership with faculties and departments  
• PEP: developing frameworks for excellence in education  
• PEP: improving student experience through curriculum and module reform 
• PEP: Module Review and the Module Operating Model

UCL degrees and making the future 

UCL is an exceptional university, full of people who want to, can, and do make the world a better place. Our UCL200 celebrations have offered the UCL community the opportunity to come together and reflect on shared values. It has been a particular pleasure to celebrate our long tradition of progressive education that makes a positive impact on people’s lives. 

Our tradition of progressive education has never been more important. We are living through a period of major social, economic, political and environmental change that impacts the whole world. Few parts of our life are now technology free and developments are rapid. GenAI is destabilising our traditional understandings of ‘knowledge’, ‘thinking’ and what universities are ‘for’.  

At the same time, with the cost of living so high, and the graduate job-market increasingly challenging, young people are thinking hard about whether pursuing a degree is the right choice. These wicked challenges land-on-top of the day-to-day ones we face delivering our curriculum at UCL, linked to fragmentation of systems and services and incoherent complexity. 

Yet, what we at UCL know is that if tomorrow’s world is to be a better place, we will need exceptional, well-trained, graduates from diverse backgrounds from across the globe. We will need them to be knowledgeable about our cutting-edge research insights and to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. We will need them to be confident in creatively applying their skills and working together to ‘think about’ and ‘do’ things differently.  

Above all, the purpose of PEP has been to engage the UCL-community in a conversation about the future of our curriculum and how we prepare graduates to make a difference to society in a changing world. It has also been a collective problem-solving venture towards the more effective delivery of our curriculum to enable staff and students to focus on what is most important:  teaching and learning in the classroom and engaging with each other.  

It is with great anticipation (and some trepidation) that we look forward to launching the PEP reviewed curriculum, and our improved ways of delivering it, to our new student cohorts in 2027. 

About the Programme Excellence Project (PEP)  

The Programme Excellence Project (PEP) is an ambitious five-year programme to review of our entire undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum portfolio of over 1100+ courses and 7,800+ modules. Its overarching aims are to: 

• Improve the student experience by offering realistic choices and ensuring that all students are part of a community​   
• Improve the staff experience by reducing complexity, admin burden and unnecessary costs for departments​  
• Create shared spaces in the curriculum for our education priorities​  
• Improve UCL’s systems and processes – such as timetabling, module selection, assessment and programme approval – so that they support departments and students effectively​  
• Ensure that UCL makes the best possible use of our resources​  
• Ensure that UCL can respond in an agile way to future changes in funding, workplace requirements and student demand 

What we have achieved so far 

PEP1: Portfolio Review concluded in 2025. It helped us simplify our course portfolio to make it more legible. It also introduced post-enrolment specialisms (PES) to give students more flexible degree study choices after enrolment. Through it we developed a new set of Curriculum Definitions and curriculum data model, implementing it across the entirety of our UG and PGT portfolio. In total, we withdrew 375 redundant courses and routes (139 UG and 236 PGT) and introduced 297 new post-enrolment specialisms. 

PEP2: Curriculum Review supported the development of the UCL Curriculum Design Principles as a shared set of characteristics of the UCL degree, realised in different ways through different disciplines and courses. 1024 courses were reviewed, with around 142 number deferred until 2028, and a further 71 courses withdrawn. Remaining courses on deferred review will complete PEP2 in 2026 for 2028 entry. 

PEP3: Module review, will help us simplify our module portfolio, embed the Curriculum Design Principles at module level and resolve challenges of fragmentation and incoherent complexity. Through it we can also make spaces in our curriculum for our shared education priorities including improved interdisciplinary and language learning opportunities. Through PEP3A a total of 2000 redundant modules have been withdrawn. 

Since we started PEP, we have made significant strides forwards in improving our approaches to curriculum management. In December 2025 we successfully launched our new curriculum information management system, CourseLoop. This was aligned with a refresh of our module review policies in the Academic Manual. In 2026, CourseLoop was also used to create and publish our 2027 entry UG prospectus using the new UCL brand.  

What’s next?

PEP3: Module Review 

The final stage of PEP is PEP3: Module Review. PEP3A is now complete. PEP3B, due to conclude in July, seeks to bring module design and delivery into line with UCL’s Academic Manual regulations to support improved quality assurance and student and staff experiences of module delivery. We are seeing evidence of progress across our faculty education teams.  

PEP3C will launch in September and run until February 2027. In PEP3C module lead will have the opportunity to review and refresh their module content, including module aims and outcomes and assessment. This will support the delivery of modules for 2027 entry for both new and continuing students. PEP3C will conclude with the publication of the module catalogue in March 2027. 

Getting ready for 2027 entry 

Getting ready for 2027 entry is no small task, requiring significant behind the scenes work in Registry and ISD to make changes to our student lifecycle systems and data. With the UG Prospectus now published, and the PGT Prospectus well on its way, teams are now focusing their attention on admissions and enrolment. This activity is overseen by the PEP Strategic Delivery Board. PEP and its implementation have been designed to deliver improvements in our student lifecycle processes and systems, which will start to be realised from 2027.  

Evaluation 

Each phase of PEP has been evaluated on completion (reporting to Education Committee). When PEP3 concludes, a full project evaluation will be undertaken. An impact evaluation plan, enabling us to monitor the impact of the PEP reviewed curriculum, is currently being designed and will be ready for launch in 2027. 

Final thoughts 

We are delighted that this ‘all about PEP’ communications series has provided the opportunity for us to remind colleagues why we are doing PEP and why it matters, as well as what the project has already achieved and is set to achieve in its final stages.  

We have been especially pleased to provide testimonial from staff and students about how PEP has helped them revitalise their curriculum and the difference it will make. We are so grateful for the support of everyone who has championed PEP and for the ongoing support. 

In this final article we have rearticulated why PEP is so important at this juncture where higher education is facing a unique set of challenges. Some of these issues, especially GenAI, weren’t on the horizon when we conceived PEP, but have highlighted its timeliness. In 2027, we look forward to delivering future-facing curriculum content and pedagogy, supported by seamless and effective curriculum infrastructure.  

As a result of PEP, we will be able to confidently and proudly say to our incoming 2027 student cohorts that their degree combines our academic values of rigour and commitment to progressive education. It will provide them with cutting-edge specialist learning in their chosen discipline, alongside verdant opportunities to explore interests and apply learning inside and outside of it.  

Above all, we can tell them, that by studying for a degree with us they can make a real impact and make tomorrow’s world a better place.