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1. Upcoming Deadlines and Key Dates
Early December - TEIs asked to circulate information on the Common Awards Management Board (CAMB) Student Representative nomination/election process
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
3rd December - DU Overarching Board of Examiners (Winter)
5th December - AdvanceHE Introductory Session
6th January - TEIs to ask Common Awards students to send any feedback for the Management Board to the CAMB student representatives
9th January - Winter Congregation for 2024 graduates
10th January – deadline to submit Durham IT account details to Common Awards for enrolment on AdvanceHE training course (if applicable)
17th January - Deadline for TEIs to submit all continuing student module marks following 2024 Exam Boards
30th January - Common Awards Management Board (CAMB)
31st January - Deadline: TEIs to submit Curriculum Development documents for new programmes and modules
2. Upcoming Events
The Annual Conference for Theological Educators 2025 – Provisional dates
The 2025 Annual Conference for Theological Educators will be taking place on 16-18 July. The theme of the conference will be: ‘Theological education and ministry among children / young people’
We will be in touch with further information and how to book your place in due course.
Student Events
We are also working on a plan for the 2025 student events, and will provide further updates when dates are confirmed.
Webinars
We will be in touch in the New Year with details of upcoming webinars.
3. Curriculum Development
TEIs are required to submit Curriculum Development documents for changes to TEI programmes by 31st January 2025. There are three main types of changes to programmes which can be considered at this deadline:
Further information on the approvals process for these changes is available here.
Smaller changes to what is already being delivered at a TEI (e.g. introducing or withdrawing a module, changing the assessment pattern for a module, or proposing learning hours which fall outside of the guidelines) can be submitted at the May curriculum development deadline.
4. CAMB Student Elections 2024/25 (for 2025/26 academic year)
The Common Awards Management Board (CAMB) is a committee with responsibility for and oversight of the quality and standards of the overarching Common Awards partnerships and programmes. The membership of the Board includes students from TEIs who represent the whole of the Common Awards student body. Student representatives are able to contribute to Common Awards decision-making, policy development and the ongoing monitoring and development of Common Awards on a national level.
TEIs will shortly be sent a communication for students on how they can nominate themselves for a CAMB representative position. Please ensure all communications are circulated to students. The deadline for student nominations for is 31st January 2025.
5. Staff Development
The University Teaching: Core Skills staff development 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. (DUCAD).
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.
Thanks to colleagues who signed up for the introductory session on 5th December. Those attending the intro session will need to send their Durham username and email account to the Common Awards team by 10th January so that DUCAD can register them onto the programme.
If you didn’t register for the Introductory Session but would still like to join this programme please contact the Common Awards team directly before the 10 January 2025 and provide us with your Durham username and email address.
If you don’t have an account, please complete the form which can be found here (under resources for staff) and email it to Common Awards as soon as possible.
The programme will start on 22 January 2025.
More information about the programme is available on our website.
6. Invoices and Census
Following the 2024/25 census process, TEIs are reminded that any new registration changes sent to us after 1st December won’t be actioned until the census numbers are finalised. Thank you for sharing your census snapshots with the team on 1st December.
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 the fees for 2024/25 as soon as we receive details from the University.
7. Winter Congregation
Students
Students eligible for graduation should now have been invited to attend the graduation ceremony at 12 noon on 9th January 2025, at Durham Cathedral. Registration closes on 6th December 2024.
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/m8tqqBK13e Registration closes on 6th December 2024.
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
There will be drinks and canapés for students and staff at St John’s College following the ceremony. Students and staff can register their attendance via the registration process.
8. Transcripts and Parchments
Transcripts and parchments for those Common Awards students who were awarded at the September 2024 Overarching Board of Examiners and were not eligible for the Congregation ceremony in Durham have been produced, packaged, and posted. TEIs have been contacted regarding this, and should have received these documents.
The Common Awards team will be in touch with TEIs regarding when then can expect to receive parchments for the students being considered at the Winter overarching Board, and for the students eligible for congregation.
Student names
TEIs are reminded that students’ full legal names must be collected at the registration point and verified against identification. It is important that the student’s full legal name is printed on their parchment and transcript. We consistently receive a high number of requests for name changes in the lead up to parchment production due to incorrect or incomplete names given at registration.
9. Durham University Board of Examiners (Overarching) 2025
The Overarching Board of Examiners have been provisionally set as September 2nd (Summer) and December 2nd (Winter), 2025.
We therefore ask that TEIs hold their own Board of Examiners no later than 6th August 2024 (Summer) and 3rd November 2025 (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 do let us know if these dates present any problems for your TEI.
10. Entry Requirements 2025-26
The standard entry requirements for all approved Common Awards programmes for 2025-26 have been approved by the Common Awards Management Board.
No changes have been made from the 2024-25 requirements, but as updates have been made in recent years please ensure that TEI Admissions Policies refer to the latest version, which can be found here.
11. Christmas Office Closure
TEIs are asked to note that the Common Awards Office will close on the afternoon of Friday 20th December and reopen on Thursday 2nd January. TEIs are strongly advised to flag any urgent queries before 20th December.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues across all TEIs for their hard work throughout the year and to wish you all a Merry Christmas.
12. Further Information
The full 2024/2025 academic calendar is available here.
With thanks,
The Common Awards Team
