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1. Upcoming Deadlines and Key Dates
2nd March – Invoices issued to all TEIs (payment terms: 30 days)
6th March: Deadline: TEIs to submit APL Credits and supporting documentation for late entrants
6th March: Deadline: TEIs to submit Module Registration Data for quality assurance checks for late entrants
13th March: Deadline: CAMB Student Representative Election closes
20th March: Deadline: TEIs to submit Common Awards Management Board (CAMB) Student Representative Election Results to Common Awards Team
24th March: Common Awards announce results of CAMB Student Representative Elections
30th March: Deadline: TEIs to submit photographs and data for campus card production (late entrants
30th March: Deadline for TEIs to submit student email addresses for the Common Awards Student Survey)
6th April: TEIs to ask Common Awards students to send any feedback for the Management Board to the CAMB student representatives
2. Seedcorn Grant Applications 2026
We are currently open for applications to the 2026 round of Seedcorn Grant Applications. The deadline is 24th April 2026. Please read our call for applications, and use our application form.
(the link to the docs is here Seedcorn Grant - Durham University)
We will consider proposals in any relevant area of research and development, and are interested in any project that might inform how theological education is delivered in future around the Common Awards partnership. We will consider everything from projects that delve into the theoretical underpinnings of theological education to projects that pilot new practices or resources.
We also, however, have a particular interest in projects related to diversity, inclusion, and belonging. In relation to that agenda, we continue to look for projects that
3. Common Awards Webinars
Tuesday 3rd March, 3pm – 4.30pm: Feedback on the Common Awards Policy on AI and Academic Misconduct
A chance to discuss how the new policy and guidance have worked this year, and whether changes are needed for the future.
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/38144181858083?p=bpdAQVbodx9McDlvJ2Meeting ID: 381 441 818 580 83Passcode: hJ62dA32
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Tuesday 28th April, 2.30pm – 4.00pm: ‘She’s Kind, He’s Smart’: Gendered Language in Teaching Evaluations, References and Reports', with the Revd Dr Gabrielle Thomas
When students are filling in Module Evaluation Questionnaires or providing other feedback on their teaching, or staff are writing reports on or references for students, it proves all easy to slip into gendered stereotypes. This webinar will help staff and students identify and avoid them.
Wednesday 6th May, 2pm – 3.30pm: Class in Theological Education, with Dr Sharon Jagger, Dr Alex Fry and Rebecca Tyndall
A chance to explore a report on the experience of working-class students in theological education.
4. Student Events
How to Engage Well with Global Perspectives
We are very excited to let you know that the Durham University Common Awards team will be hosting a 24-hour student conference on the topic of ‘How to Engage Well with Global Perspectives’.
The conference will be held at the Queen's Foundation, Birmingham, on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March.
Each TEI has been invited to nominate up to two of their students to attend the conference. We hope to be able to accommodate all nominated students, but if we get more nominations than expected we will allocate places on a first come first served basis. We will notify all TEIs as soon as all available spaces have been taken.
The purpose of the conference is to enable students to benefit from an inter-TEI learning experience on a contemporary and important topic. TEIs may nominate candidates studying for any Common Awards programme, and we hope that you will nominate the students who you believe will benefit most from the opportunity.
Participants are invited to arrive from 4pm onwards on the Friday evening as their commitments allow. Some may wish to delay their arrival until the Saturday morning. This is absolutely fine, since the formal conference programme will start at 9:00am on the Saturday morning. The conference will end by 3:30pm.
Common Awards will meet all conference costs including accommodation and meals. Funding will also be available to help with travel costs where needed. Where a nominee needs help with travel costs please consult us about the reimbursement process in advance.
The closing date to nominate students was 27th February 2026 and conference packs including the final programme and directions will be sent out soon.
5. Annual Conference for Theological Educators 2026
The 2026 Annual Conference for Theological Educators will be taking place on 15-17 July 2026, at Durham. We will be in touch with further information and how to book your place in due course.
6. Student Representation: Elections
Candidates have come forward for student elections and each TEI individually should be holding an election process for students to vote on their chosen candidate. Following their election process, each TEI then provides the Common Awards Team with a list of all candidates who received votes in ranked order by 20th March 2026. Once ranked preferences have been received from each TEI, the Common Awards Team uses a Single Transferable Vote system to identify the candidates with the highest number of votes across all TEIs. Results will be announced on 24th March 2026.
7. Common Awards Student Survey 2026
The 2025/26 Common Awards Student Survey will run from Friday 1st May – Friday 29th May 2026. The survey will be entirely managed and analysed by Durham, with TEI-specific results shared with each TEI over the summer. The survey will be available to all students registered on Common Awards programmes in 2025/26.
Further information on providing the data required for the Survey will follow shortly.
8. TEI Invoices
All TEIs will receive invoices at the beginning of March. The invoices are based on a snapshot of student records data from 1st December; all changes communicated to us before 1st December will have been reflected in the invoices. Please note that payments are expected within 30 days.
If there are any questions or queries regarding invoices, please contact the team as soon as possible.
9. Boards of Examiners
The Overarching Board of Examiners have been provisionally set as September 3rd (Summer) and December 1st (Winter), 2026.
We therefore ask that TEIs hold their own Board of Examiners no later than 5th August 2026 (Summer) and 2nd November 2026 (Winter). This allows the Common Awards Team enough time to process the data received from TEIs, and resolve any queries, before the Overarching Board of Examiners. Please note that the date for the Winter Board is one week earlier than usual, as per agreement at the January meeting of the Common Awards Management Board. Please do let us know if these dates present any problems for your TEI.
TEIs are reminded that they are very welcome to send a representative from their TEI Board of Examiners (normally the Chair) to 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. The next meeting of the Board is due to be held online, on 3rd September 2026. Please contact the team if a representative from your TEI Board of Examiners wishes to attend this meeting.
10. Replacement Transcripts and Parchments
The cost for replacement transcripts and parchments in 2025/26 will remain at:
Transcripts - £12
Parchments - £35
If there are errors in documents, these changes will need to be made via Common Awards and the charge will be added to the next TEI invoice. If a student has lost their documents; they can order direct from the Online Document Store.
If you have students who have returned to top-up their award, please remind them to return parchments and transcripts as soon as possible to avoid delays in issuing new documents.
11. Addressing OfS Condition E6
The University’s Student Conduct Office has progressed work to address the Office for Students’ Condition E6 (harassment and sexual misconduct), and is now supporting the team in extending this work to the Common Awards partnership. Proposed guidance will be considered by the Common Awards Management Board in May 2026, and communicated to TEIs shortly thereafter. Those TEIs registered with the OfS will already have considered this area, and it is expected that any guidance from the University will support this existing work.
12. Further Information
The full 2025/2026 academic calendar is available here.
With thanks,
Common Awards Team
