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1. Upcoming Deadlines and Key Dates
2nd September – Durham University Overarching Board of Examiners (Summer)
29th September - Deadline: TEIs to submit New Student Programme Registration data
6th October - TEIs to ask Common Awards students to send any feedback for the Management Board to the CAMB student representatives
13th October (approx) - TEIs to receive Banner IDs of new students
23rd October - Common Awards Management Board
24th October - Deadline: TEIs to submit Board of Examiners Membership Lists
24th October - Deadline: TEIs to submit Module Registration Data for quality assurance checks
24th October - Deadline: TEIs to submit APL Credits and supporting documentation
Late October - TEIs asked to circulate invitation letters to students eligible to attend the Durham University Congregation ceremony in January 2026
If any TEI staff members would appreciate further information on preparing for these processes, please contact the Common Awards Team.
2. New Student Programme Registration including Study Path
TEIs are asked to submit New Student Programme Registration data by 29th September 2025.
Detailed guidance on this process is available on the Common Awards website here.
Study Path Reminder:
A student would receive a Banner ID when they register on a programme e.g. BA, along with a Study Path number (if this is their first registration with the University the Study Path number will be 1). When they complete studies, and register on the MA, they will keep the same Banner ID but a new Study Path 2 will be generated.
If there is an instance where you have a student registered on the undergraduate Diploma, completes their studies but then returns within 5 years to top up the award to the BA, their original Study Path (that was generated when the student registered on the Diploma) will be re-opened, as the credit gained towards the Diploma will count towards the BA.
3. Campus Cards
The deadline for submitting photographs and supplementary student list is 3rd November 2025. In order to ensure this process is as smooth as possible, we have produced a process guide for TEIs to follow, which is attached to the email sent introducing this September Bulletin.
4. TEI Forum
The chair of the TEI Forum will shortly be in contact with members to consider possible dates for this meeting. This meeting will be held online. Please contact Michael Hull (Chair) directly to discuss any potential agenda items.
Each TEI Principal (or equivalent) is permitted to nominate up to four members of core staff to serve as members of the TEI Forum. An email has been sent to key contacts regarding 2025-26 membership. For more information, please see our website.
5. Staff Development: Core Skills
This programme provides participants with the opportunity to work through interactive online content in their own time, to discuss their learning with colleagues across the UK and with facilitators from Durham University’s Centre for Academic Development (DCAD).
Successful completion of the Account of Professional Practice confers Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (now known as AdvanceHE) and the post-nominal letters AFHEA.
More information about the programme is available on our website.
The Common Awards Team is currently awaiting information from DCAD regarding dates for the 2025/26 programme; further details will be circulated to TEIs once available.
6. Winter Congregation 2026
Students
Students eligible for graduation (those who have successfully completed the BA, MA, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate) will be invited to attend the graduation ceremony at Durham Cathedral. We will shortly be sending student invitation letters to TEIs, and registration will be open between October and December 2025 (exact dates to be confirmed).
We will also be hosting a post-ceremony celebration event in Durham for those attending graduation; further information will follow shortly.
TEI Staff
Members of staff in TEIs are also welcome to attend the Common Awards graduation ceremonies; the staff attendance registration form will be sent to TEIs in October.
Academic Procession
Members of staff in TEIs who hold an undergraduate degree are eligible to participate in the academic procession for the Common Awards students. If you are interested in this, please indicate on the staff attendance registration form in October.
7. Board of Examiners
The first Overarching Board of Examiners meeting for 2024/25 will take place on 2nd September 2025, where around 259 students will be considered for an award. Following the meeting we will send passlists to TEIs to confirm; TEIs are reminded not to share the passlists directly with students. Parchments and transcripts for students not eligible for Congregation (Graduation) will be produced within ~8 weeks. Those eligible for Congregation (Graduation) will receive their award documentation ~8 weeks after the ceremony.
The Winter Overarching Board of Examiners is due to be held on 2nd December 2025.
TEIs are reminded that Boards of Examiners must ensure that the following is submitted to Durham in line with the deadlines in published guidance and the Common Awards Calendar:
Further information on the documents TEIs must submit following Board of Examiners meetings is available here.
8. TEI Attendance – Durham Board of Examiners
TEIs are reminded that they are very welcome to send a representative from their TEI Board of Examiners (normally the Chair) to observe the meetings of the overarching Board. Up to three TEI BoE representatives may attend each board. This can be a good way for TEIs to discover more about how the overarching Board works, and to see how we handle decisions about their students.
Please contact the team if a representative from your TEI Board of Examiners wishes to attend the December Board of Examiners meeting.
9. Conversion of Marks
The Common Awards Management Board recently approved a new policy for the marking of summative assessments that don’t use a standard Common Awards assessment criteria grid. This includes any assessments which use quantitative marking – e.g., where the mark given is simply a count of the number of correct answers in a test – which can include for example biblical languages tests or multiple choice tests. Such marking does not directly refer to the qualitative descriptors in Common Awards assessment criteria grids.
This policy has been developed following a request from the Common Awards External Moderator to ensure a consistency in approach to these kinds of assessment.
The new policy requires any TEI which marks any piece of summative assessment other than by using one of the standard Common Awards assessment criteria grids to offer a statement of how the TEI believes this would yield an appropriate overall mark – that is, how the TEI ensures that the mark ultimately given for the work will be comparable to the qualitative descriptors found in the assessment criteria grids. This statement should be shared with the Common Awards Team and would be available to the TEI’s external examiner, ensuring transparency concerning the approach being taken. Equally importantly, the need for a statement will ensure that the relevant tutors have carefully thought through the issues.
The new policy also requires that when conversion is going to be applied to marks – i.e., when the quantitative marks from a test are converted into different marks that sit in the relevant qualitative bands – students should be informed about this in advance. It is important that there is transparency with students over the assessment processes that are being applied to their work.
The full details of the policy can be found here, and should be read in conjunction with the policy on converting test scores into marks.
We would like to remind TEIs of the principles surrounding the conversion of marks.
Some assignments, like language tests, might produce quantitative scores. Those scores are not the marks for that assignment. In principle, they will always need to go through some process of conversion – where conversion involves making qualitative judgments about what is meant by different levels of achievement in a quantitatively scored test, and then translating those qualitative judgments into numerical marks in the normal way.
Further information on Converting Test Scores into Marks is available on our website.
10. AI Policy and Guidance
The final version of the new Common Awards AI policy and guidance was circulated to TEI Key Contacts on 15th August 2025. It had undergone only minor changes from the version circulated at the end of July, none of which altered the substance.
The policy is for immediate implementation. TEIs are asked to ensure that all students are informed about this policy as early as possible in the new academic year, and are aware of their responsibilities under it. We aim, in the next few weeks, to put an introductory video up on our website to help you explain the new policy to students.
The adoption of this policy required some changes to our main Academic Misconduct policy, so that it now refers to this policy. If they have not already done so TEIs will also need to make appropriate changes to their own academic misconduct policies, where they refer to AI.
For further information, please see the following Common Awards web pages:
11. Concession Form (Update)
Please note that the concession form for 2025/26 has been updated and is available from:
Templates and Forms
TEIs are also reminded that any withdrawals and module changes should be sent via the Microsoft Form (links were shared in May with Key Contacts).
12. Staffing Update
Emma Harrington has recently been appointed to the permanent role of Senior Quality Manager. Recruitment is underway to appoint to the vacant post of Assistant Quality Manager.
13. Further Information
The Common Awards calendar for the academic year 2025/26 is now available here.
With very best wishes for the start of the academic year,
The Common Awards Team
