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Academic Essentials

College Office Induction 2022

The College Office’s Inductions took place from -2 week to 0th week 2022. The slides presented at the induction are available as a downloadable PDF here. This will be of particular interest and help to those students who were unable to join the inductions. These slides provide information on all you’ll need to know about academic, financial and welfare support at the College. Should you have questions about any information provided in these slides, please contact the college office.

Student Handbook

The Student Handbook (available to download as a PDF here) is intended to provide a brief guide to life at Green Templeton College, its activities, and who to contact to use its facilities. It also contains information about benefits, rules and regulations. It should be used alongside your College Contract, Accommodation Contract (if applicable) and your Offer Letter from the college. If you require assistance accessing the Handbook, please email admissions@gtc.ox.ac.uk.

Bod cards

Your University Card (or ‘Bod card’) verifies your identity, allows access to buildings and libraries across the city, and provides a cashless payment system for lunch at Green Templeton. You will receive your card when you enrol.

It is important that lost cards are replaced immediately via the online store. If your card is stolen, you can obtain a free replacement by supplying a crime number. Once an order is placed, the lost card will be blocked and your new card will carry a different barcode.

If your card becomes damaged or if you need to extend your expiry date (due to an extension or suspension of status), the College Office can order a free replacement.

Enrolment certificates

You can print an Enrolment Certificate from Student Self Service and have it stamped by the College Office team. The certificate verifies your status and may be used for council tax exemption, opening a bank account, applying for a Schengen visa etc.

Forms

Graduate Studies Office (GSO) forms are used for research progression milestones and for applications for exceptional circumstances, such as Transfer of Programme and Suspension of Status. Please send forms by email to the Academic Administrator, who endorses them on behalf of the college, ensuring that both the student and supervisor sections have been completed.

Change of Options forms must be submitted via the college should you wish to change an assessment option outside of the examination entry period. You must first pay the Change of Options fee via the online store and then send the order number you receive (which will begin with OXF) together with full details of the option(s) you wish to drop and the one(s) you wish to take instead to the College Office. We will then complete and submit the relevant form to the Academic Records Office.

University exams

Please refer to the university’s website Examinations and assessments | University of Oxford for further information and guidance on exams and assessments this academic year.

Problems with submitting your assessments or attending an exam

A number of processes have been put in place by the University to help students who are having difficulties submitting their assessments on time and/or attending examinations. A dedicated webpage and student guidance with further information has been put together. Please ensure you read through this information carefully.

Extension Requests

The Proctors will only consider applications and grant extensions to make up for time lost through ‘illness or other urgent cause’.

Self-certify for an extension request up to 7 days – A student can make an extension request, independently of the college, and self-certify for a short-term health condition/illness or a fluctuation of a chronic condition of up to 7 days by completing the following Proctors’ self-cert extensions form. We recommend this is completed as soon as possible ahead of the impending deadline (but no more than 2 weeks), but can also be done within 24 hours of a missed deadline. The Proctors aim to respond to these requests within 5 working days.

However, to request an extension for an urgent, personal reason, and/or an extension on medical grounds not mentioned on the above Proctors’ form and/or for longer than 7 days, the college will need to make the request on your behalf. Please contact Alison Franklin, or Caitlin Pawulski if you find yourself in this situation.

Please note, that the amount of time you should ask for as an extension should relate to the study time you have lost and will need to be supported by the evidence you provide. The Proctors will not accept as reasons for lateness problems such as failure of your private email, computer (including virus infection), internet connection, connection to the submission portal (unless a system-wide error), lost or stolen files, or issues encountered when setting up the MFA (multi-factor authentication).

Alison and Caitlin can also be contacted if you need further information and/or would like to make one of the requests below. Please note, that supporting evidence (medical or otherwise) will be required.

Annual Review meetings

All Green Templeton students are invited to attend an Annual Review (also known as a Collection), which is a 20-minute annual progress meeting with a senior college officer (Principal, Vice-Principal, or Senior Tutor). There is no need to wear academic dress or to prepare in advance; the meetings are simply an opportunity for you to discuss your progress and experience of both the college and wider University. You are welcome to invite your College Adviser to attend the meeting, subject to their availability, but please note that you should make the arrangements directly with them.

Letters

Current students

Enrolment certificates should be used whenever possible to verify student status. There are situations in which a more personalised document is required, however, and the College Office will produce letters on your behalf. Please note that the College Office is often very busy and that requests for letters should not be left to the last minute.

If you are applying for a Schengen visa or need to verify your student status at an embassy in the UK, you will need to provide the address of the office at which you have an appointment. If possible, please also supply details of your proposed travel.

If you require a letter to support a visa application for friends/family to visit you in Oxford, usually for degree ceremony guests, please provide full and accurate details for each visitor including: full name; date of birth; relationship to you; address; passport number; passport expiry date. If you would prefer not to supply these details, the College Office can produce a general document which you can use to supplement your own ‘letter of invitation’ – a template is available on the University’s website.

An enrolment certificate should suffice for council tax exemption; please contact the College Office if you have any problems producing a certificate.

Please note that the college will only be able to verify your current student status to parties who will not accept your enrolment certificate as sufficient evidence (such as landlords, letting agents and occasionally banks). We will also not verify your status to said party without your written consent. Please inform the College Office if you are passing on our contact details and expect them to contact us for verification. If an employer or prospective employer contacts the college office for verification of your details or academic standing they will be re-directed to the central University’s verification service. The college is not able to supply academic verifications to a third party or verification service providers.

Railcard forms can be signed and stamped by the College Office. Forms for online submission can be received by email in pdf format and signed electronically; hard-copy forms can be processed during office hours (Monday – Friday; 09:00 – 16:00).

Former students

The college is not able to verify the academic details of former students to third parties or verification service providers. All verification requests for former Green Templeton College students (including students who attended pre-2008) should be directed to the central university’s Degree Conferrals team, part of the Student Registry. This team deals with all commercial/third party verification enquiries and it is protocol that all verification requests are made through this process.

Instructions for placing this request can be found on the University website here.

If you are unsure where your request falls under the above procedure please contact the College Office and we can signpost you to the correct route.

Transcripts

Current students

If you require an on-course transcript, please order one from the Degree Conferrals Office.

You will automatically receive a paper copy of your final transcript upon completion of your degree, which will be sent to the ‘home address’ listed in Student Self Service. Please ensure that you keep this address updated so that your transcript reaches you. The University does not produce electronic copies of transcripts. Additional copies of final transcripts can be ordered from the Degree Conferrals Office.

Former students

If you commenced your studies prior to Michaelmas Term 2007 (at either Green or Templeton) you may be able to request a transcript from the College Office. Requests for transcripts from historic students can have a two-week turnaround time as all available historic files are stored in an off-site archive. Please note that not all historic students will have a transcript available. In those cases, a confirmation letter will be written instead.

We will acknowledge your request and keep you informed of progress.

If you require a transcript to be verified by a third-party company, such as World Educational Services (WES), you will need to order the transcript from the Degree Conferrals Office and subsequently submit the WES form to documents@admin.ox.ac.uk quoting the order number. WES will only accept documents that are stamped and sealed by the University.

Degree certificates

If you attend a degree ceremony in person, your certificate will be available for collection either at the College celebration or from the Lodge at Green Templeton immediately after the ceremony and for a week afterwards. It will then be posted to you at the address used for your ceremony booking.

If your degree was conferred in your absence, your certificate will be posted to you at the address used to place the booking shortly after the date of the ceremony.

These certificates are sent directly by the Degree Conferrals Office, rather than the College, and so please ensure that your address is accurately maintained via Student Self-Service.

Degree confirmation letters

If you have completed a degree course but have not yet had your degree conferred at a ceremony, but require proof of your eligibility for the award, please request a Degree Confirmation Letter

Further information about Transcripts and Certificates can be found on the Degree Conferrals Office website.

Alumni cards

Students on taught courses will receive an alumni card from the university during their final term. Research students can apply for an alumni card on completion by contacting the university’s alumni office. Please note that alumni cards are sent out directly by the university’s alumni office.