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Reacting to the Covid-19 pandemic continues to be our priority and we will do everything we can to support TEIs and students. We hope our colleagues and students are keeping safe.
Please continue to check the FAQs, which outlines the advice and guidance from the Common Awards Team, as often as you are able. Please keep the Common Awards Team, and the National Ministry Team, up to date with your delivery plans for 2020/21. If you need to notify us of any changes please use the forms you originally submitted and indicate any updates using tracked changes.
All communications, updates and changes regarding Covid-19 will be communicated on this FAQ section and through emails to TEI Key Contacts and Principals. Please remember that the best way to contact the team is via the common.awards@durham.ac.uk email address. We continue to work from home and do not have access to the office phones.
28th September - Deadline: TEIs to submit their updated T9 Staff CV Summary Table
October - TEIs asked to confirm list of students eligible to attend the Durham University Congregation ceremony in January 2021
5th October - Deadline: TEIs to submit New Student Programme Registration data
7th October - TEI Forum Meeting
19th October (approx) - TEIs to receive Banner IDs of new students
27th October - Common Awards Management Board
30th October - Deadline: TEIs to submit Board of Examiners Membership Lists
Late October - TEIs asked to circulate invitation letters to students eligible to attend the Durham University Congregation ceremony in January 2021
TEIs are reminded that marks (and additional information required to implement the ‘No Detriment’ policy) considered by the TEI Board of Examiners must be submitted within 48 hours of the meeting taking place. Further information is available in the section titled 'Overarching Board of Examiners'.
TEIs are also reminded to submit their programme documentation (programme regulations, module overview tables and curriculum mappings) and policies for 2020/21 as soon as possible. Please also remember that the Academic Progress Notice Policy is new for 2020/21 and any variations to this policy will need to be approved by the University.
Common Awards have developed a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy that aims to support TEIs and the partnership as a whole in efforts to actively address barriers to inclusion and belonging in our learning environments. You can read the strategy and find out more about the work being undertaken to this aim on our new Diversity and Inclusion web pages.
We are very excited to announced that Called, the Common Awards podcast will be launched in the Autumn. Our first season will be a deep dive into the book Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism & the Church of England by Azariah France-Williams. The first episode features a discussion on race, racism and the church with Azariah and other special guests David Shervington and Anthony Reddie. We've also just recorded our second episode with Anthony Reddie, Natasha Beckles, and Farai Mapamula.
The podcast will be available on all main podcast platforms, as well as on the Common Awards Hub. To find out more about the podcast you can also follow us on Twitter: @CA_CAlled
If you have any questions about the podcast please get in touch with Frances Clemson at frances.clemson@durham.ac.uk
We are also excited to announce a new series of webinars that began in September. The webinars are aimed at Common Awards students and staff but open to others with an interest in the subject areas addressed. Each webinar will include leading scholars and/or faith practitioners who will offer diverse insights into a range of topics that will directly relate to the core modules taken by Common Awards students. The first webinar in the series, recorded in early September was entitled The Bible and Resisting Racism, hosted by Augustine Tanner-Ihm. Common Awards students and staff will shortly be able to access the video on the Hub, under “Hub Resources – Common Awards Webinars”
The October webinar entitled Rethinking Mission and Evangelism will be hosted by Chine McDonald on 30 October at 2pm. If you have any questions about the webinars get in touch with Eve Parker at eve.r.parker@durham.ac.uk
TEIs were recently invited to provide their feedback on proposed changes to the academic calendar for 2020/21. Thanks to all that provided feedback and suggestions.
TEIs should have received communication earlier this month regarding changes to some Student Records processes.
Earlier this year, the Common Awards Team undertook a comprehensive review of all Student Records processes, with a view to implementing numerous changes ahead of the academic year 2020/21.
With a significant change in working due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of these changes will not be implemented as we had planned, but may be revisited in the future.
However, there have been some changes to the Concessions process and the Changes of Registration process webpages. The following changes have been implemented with a view to making these processes more efficient:
Concessions
Changes of Registration
All documentation has been uploaded to the relevant Common Awards webpages, and is available to view now.
TEIs should note that there have not been significant changes to the processes. Rather, any changes have been brought in to streamline processes and hopefully reduce administrative workloads on TEIs.
TEIs are to submit New Student Programme Registration data by the 5th October.
Detailed guidance on this process is available on the Common Awards website.
As per the academic calendar, the Common Awards Census will be taken on December 1st.
TEIs are asked to confirm all registration details by December 1st also.
At this point, the Common Awards Team takes a snapshot of TEIs’ student records data in Banner; this is used to calculate TEI validation fees. TEIs are reminded that they will be charged for any students who withdraw after the census date.
TEIs are reminded that the TEI Forum is due to be held online on the 7th October 2020. The exact format and timings will be released in due course.
Registrations will close on 1st October 2020.
We would be grateful if you could send us the names and email addresses of your TEI student representatives elected for the 2020/21 academic year (with their permission), and any information on your student representation structure if possible.
We hope to put the Common Awards Management Board student representatives in touch with TEI student representatives to share good practice, and look at how best feedback can be shared between students in TEIs and the Management Board.
As per the Academic Calendar 2020/21, in September, TEIs will be asked to confirm a list of students eligible to attend the Durham University Congregation Ceremony in January 2021.
The Congregation Ceremony for Common Awards Students is scheduled for January 8th.
Further information will be distributed to TEIs in due course.
TEIs are reminded that they can contact the Common Awards Team for information, advice, and guidance in relation to any aspects of the Common Awards partnership, programmes, processes, structures, or events. If your query relates to another professional service within the University (e.g. Legal Services or Student Registry), we will liaise with the relevant staff on your behalf.
When communicating with the Common Awards Team via email, please be as specific as possible in your email subject and please highlight which member of the team it is intended for, if you know. If your communication relates to a specific student, please include the student's Banner ID and full name. If your email is part of an ongoing conversation, please include all relevant and previous discussions in your response; this hugely helps our effectiveness in tracking ongoing and completed actions.
With thanks,
Mike, Frances, Eve, Alyson, Emma, Rhianne, Deborah and Adam
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