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1. Upcoming Deadlines and Key Dates
3rd November: Deadline for TEIs to submit campus card photographs (for further information on photograph formatting, please see the following page: Campus Cards - Durham University)
21st November: Deadline to register for the AdvanceHE staff development introductory session
28th November: Deadline - TEIs to submit Annual Self-Evaluation Documentation
48 hours after TEI Board of Examiners - TEIs to submit all completing student module marks considered at the TEI Board of Examiners (if applicable)
1st December: Deadline: TEIs to submit changes of registration (to be captured in the Census)
1st December: Census Date : TEIs to submit Moodle census snapshot report
2nd December: DU Overarching Board of Examiners (Winter)
Early December: TEIs asked to circulate information on the Common Awards Management Board (CAMB) Student Representative nomination/election process.
TEIs are reminded to submit concession requests and change of registration forms on an ongoing basis.
2. Winter Congregation 2026
Students
Students eligible for graduation (those who have successfully completed the BA, MA, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate) should now have been invited to attend the graduation ceremony at 12 noon on 8th January 2026, at Durham Cathedral. Registration closes on 8th December 2025.
Action requested: The letters issued to students eligible for graduation advised that they may be able to request additional guest tickets, as in previous years; however we have since been advised by the Ceremonies Team that unfortunately, as there are a high number of students eligible to attend the January ceremonies this year, graduands are restricted to two guest tickets due to limitations on space. Guests without tickets can watch a live stream of the ceremonies in the lecture theatre in the Teaching and Learning Centre. We would be grateful if you could contact your eligible students to advise them of this change to the information provided in the letter.
TEI Staff
Members of staff in TEIs are also welcome to attend the Common Awards graduation ceremony; the staff attendance registration form is available at the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/Rj5zkBcLHt Registration closes on Thursday 4 December 2025 (5pm).
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.
Common Awards Celebration Event
A Celebration Event will be hosted at St John’s College, which incorporates Cranmer Hall, following the graduation ceremonies at Durham Cathedral. St John’s College, Durham University, is a 5-minute walk from the Cathedral where the ceremonies will be held.
The event will allow students to meet with representatives from the Common Awards Team and the Ministry Development Team, whilst also celebrating the graduating students from all TEIs.
There will be drinks and canapés for students and staff. Students and staff can register their attendance via the registration process.
3. Invoices and Census
Census
TEIs are asked to follow the below process in preparation for the 2025/26 census:
We will then run the checking processes against our Banner data. We will work on the assumption that the Moodle data in your snapshot is correct but will liaise with you over any discrepancies until the final numbers have been confirmed with you. You will not be charged for any students who are DM or WD on 1st December according to your Moodle snapshot, and we will honour all changes sent to us before 1st December. In the unlikely event that a student is correctly DM or WD in Banner on 1st December, but incorrectly RE in Moodle, you will be given the opportunity to correct this in Moodle and resend the report. Students completing at our December overarching Board will be made SC in Banner after 1st December, and these students will not be included in the census.
Queries and confirmation of numbers will be sent to TEIs week commencing Monday 5 January 2026.
Any new registration changes sent to us after 1st December won’t be actioned until the census numbers are finalised.
As per the Standard Validation Contract, the University intends to increase the validation and per capita student fees in line with inflation. We will confirm with TEIs the rate of inflation in due course.
4. APL and Module Registration
TEIs are reminded to please send us the additional reports from Moodle for Module Registration. These reports are entitled, ‘V4 – Module Enrolment (programme name) all’ and should be downloaded and sent to us as .html files. Please use ‘ZendTo’ to share these documents securely with the Common Awards Team.
When submitting APL credits, TEIs are also asked to submit approval documentation relating to the APL application. Please do this for approvals at TEI and University level. Please be advised that this request is not adding an additional approval process where TEIs have already approved APL claims within the parameters set. Further information on the process for submitting this data is available on the APL registration page and Module Registration page.
5. Board of Examiner Submissions
The next Overarching Board of Examiners is due to be held on 2nd December 2025.
Please note that the Team will be working to tight timescales for this Board. We therefore wish to remind TEIs that it is absolutely paramount that TEIs submit completing student modules marks 48 hours after they have been considered at their TEI Board of Examiners. Please do send these earlier if you are able to do so.
TEIs are asked to ensure that all appropriate checks on the data are undertaken before sharing the data with the Common Awards Team to reduce the number of queries. It is also important that a staff member with full knowledge of the students’ records is available at the TEI in the weeks following the board, to resolve any queries.
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 their Board of Examiners is available here.
6. 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.
The next meeting of the Board is due to be held online on 2nd December from 9:30am – 12:30pm. Please contact the team if a representative from your TEI Board of Examiners wishes to attend this meeting.
7. ASE Documentation
As in previous years, we will schedule individual virtual meetings with TEIs in the Spring to discuss and reflect on the information provided in Annual Self-Evaluation submissions. This year these meetings will be chaired by your ULO.
Following discussions with the Ministry Development Team, it has also been agreed that a member of the Ministry team will also attend these meetings where the TEI trains Church of England ministers, to provide a more co-ordinated response to ASE submissions. If you feel it is more appropriate for your TEI to have two separate meetings then please let us know when we begin to arrange meetings.
The Common Awards Team will be in touch to organise a convenient time for these meetings following TEI submissions of ASEs.
The deadline for the submissions of Annual Self Evaluation forms is 28th November. You can find the most recent version of the forms on our Templates and Forms webpage. Please submit sections A and B to David Hanson in the Ministry Development Team. Following feedback from TEIs, TEIs will be invited to provide permission for Section A submissions to be shared with the Common Awards team.
8. TEI BoE and CAMC
TEIs are reminded to forward dates of their TEI Management Committees and Boards of Examiners meetings for 2025-26 to the Common Awards Team at their earliest convenience.
We would also like to remind TEIs to send TEI Boards of Examiners Membership Lists at their earliest convenience.
9. Creating a bank of sample dissertations
TEIs are reminded of the below proposal from the Common Awards Management Board relating to the creation of a bank of sample dissertations.
Creating a bank of sample dissertations
Following a suggestion from an external examiner, the Common Awards Management Board in January 2025 agreed to pursue the creation of a bank of sample dissertations complete with marks and feedback, to be available to Common Awards students and staff, so that
We are asking TEIs to help us put this resource together.
What are we looking for?
We therefore want to create bank of dissertations that:
How can TEIs help?
As TEIs pursue 2025 round of dissertation marking and exam boards, we are asking staff to identify dissertations that, in their judgment, fit the criteria above.
It is up to TEIs how to manage this process. It could be an item on the Exam Board agenda, but it is likely to be more practical to handle it separately.
The crucial point is that, for each dissertation identified, the TEI will need to secure explicit permission from the student and both markers before sending the dissertation on to us.
We are not expecting any one TEI to provide samples for every mark band or every broad subject area. Our hope is that if each TEI provides a small number of candidate dissertations – perhaps no more than one or two – the Common Awards team will be able to choose from amongst them a selection that covers the main bases.
It is important to stress that we don’t simply want to receive first class / distinction-level dissertations. To be helpful to markers seeking to calibrate their marks, we need sample dissertations of a range of different qualities.
What will happen to the dissertations submitted?
The Common Awards team will arrange for each of these marked dissertations to be moderated, by a combination of ULOs and volunteer staff at TEIs different from the ones that submitted the dissertations in question, to ensure that
Once we have our sample checked, we will publish them – with all student, marker and TEI details anonymised – on the Common Awards hub.
10. Staff Development - University Teaching: 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.
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.
Registration for the programme is now open. (closes 21st November 2025)
An introductory session will be held on 4th December 2025 (1:30-3:30) and the programme begins on 21st January 2026.
11. TEI Forum
The TEI Forum went ahead on 23rd October online. Thank you to all that were able to attend.
We understand that a Doodle poll will be circulated to TEI Forum members in due course to indicate their availability for the Spring 2026 meeting of the Forum.
12. Staffing at TEIs
Please could we remind TEIs of the following when they are considering making new appointments:
More information can be found here Staffing at TEIs - Durham University
13. Staffing update
We are delighted to announce that, following a recent recruitment process, Gary Harding has been appointed to the role of Assistant Quality Manager on a permanent basis and will join the team in November.
Dr Gary Wilton has sadly left the Common Awards team after completing a year of maternity cover for Dr Emily Kempson. Emily has returned from maternity leave and is on research leave until January 2026.
14. Further Information
The full 2025/2026 academic calendar is available here.
With thanks,
Common Awards Team
