Academic life
This section tells you more about the structures put in place by university and college to support you with your academic journey at Oxford and who to contact whether in college, department or through the wider university if you experience any difficulties.
Graduate teaching at Oxford is delivered by departments, but the college plays a significant role in supporting your academic progress, helping you make the most of the many opportunities available, and navigating a path through often complex processes and bureaucracy. This section outlines some of the ways in which the College Office team, headed up by the Senior Tutor, can offer practical support and assistance. Find out more about the College Office contacts.
College Advisers
All Green Templeton students are assigned a College Adviser, who is a senior member of the college. While academic supervision is provided by your University Supervisor, your College Adviser can act as a source of support and advice about both academic and non-academic matters. Your College Adviser will not necessarily be working within the same area or field as you. Your College Adviser may also be able to offer general advice on academic-related matters such as applications for research funding, conference and seminar attendance, publication, and career plans.
You are welcome to invite your College Adviser to attend your Annual Academic Review should you wish to do so. Please note that your College Adviser is not able to perform the role of your Department or Faculty Supervisor(s), and is not responsible for directing your academic work, signing off on any academic paperwork, or for giving detailed academic guidance. You will receive details of your College Adviser by email from the College Office at the start of term and can expect to meet them during your first term; you are encouraged to contact them at the start of the year as well as when you need advice or help to set your regular termly meetings.
You should also feel free to consult other College officers as necessary. Additionally, your College Adviser should contact you on a regular (usually termly) basis for an informal meeting. You are entitled to one free dinner and two free lunches over the course of the academic year for the purpose of meeting your College Adviser. Students are expected to respond promptly to emails and invitations from their College Advisers and to reschedule if the proposed time is not suitable.
Your College Adviser may be changed during periods of sabbatical or other academic leave. Should there be reasons for you to seek a change of Adviser (only considered in cases of a conflict of interest), or if you are having difficulty contacting them, you should contact the Deputy Academic Registrar.
Annual Review Meetings
You will be invited to attend an annual academic progress review, which is a 20 to 30-minute annual progress meeting with a senior college officer (Principal, Vice-Principal, or Senior Tutor). The purpose of this meeting is to discuss your academic work and progress in general terms, and also to allow you to raise issues or concerns about other matters, academic or non-academic. Note that you do not need to wait for the annual meeting to raise issues or concerns; you can contact the Senior Tutor at any point during your time in college. Invitations to annual reviews follow a termly pattern, with students in second and subsequent years invited in Michaelmas Term and students on one-year programmes invited in Hilary Term. Students who cannot attend within these terms will be invited to attend in Trinity term. Meetings are not compulsory, but they are an excellent opportunity to discuss your experience of Oxford and Green Templeton, particularly and so all students are encouraged to attend. For more information, please contact the College Office Administrative Assistant . Academic Progress Reviews will be scheduled separately for medics (2nd BM and Graduate Entry) with the senior teaching staff at GTC. These review meetings are mandatory for all medics. For more information, please contact the College Office.
The Atlas Programme
The college has a programme of academic, professional and personal development, named after the figure of Atlas on the Observatory tower. One weekend full or half-day workshop will take place each term, with visiting experts who can help you to build the skills and knowledge you need to excel in your course and in your future career. At any time in the year, students can access on-demand one-to-one help with specialist tutors to support skills such as survey design and statistical analysis, academic writing, and academic English, there’s a weekly online writing group, and you’ll also have the opportunity to share your academic work with the college community by displaying a research poster or giving a research presentation.
Finally, you can join our unique Green Templeton Coaching Programme, which will match you with a qualified executive coach for a series of online or in-person coaching sessions across the year.
Atlas is run by Dr Ruth Scobie, the Academic Development and Programmes Facilitator, alongside an GCR-elected Academic Officer.
Academic Projects
Green Templeton has a distinctive academic profile, specialising in subjects relating to human welfare and social, economic and environmental well-being in the 21st century, including medical sciences, management, and most social sciences. The College has a range of ongoing and dynamic inter-disciplinary College-based academic projects, including the Management in Medicine Programme, and the Sheila Kitzinger Programme. Green Templeton also has close ties with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, where a number of mid-career journalists, visiting for up to three terms, will join the College as Visiting Associates.
Student-led academic initiatives include the established annual Human Welfare Conference. A number of academic grants are available each year to support innovative student-led projects. Please refer to the Fees/Finance section for further information on this.
University Student Handbook
The University Student Handbook contains information about the university side of student welfare, conduct and discipline. When you received your University Offer (through UCAS or your departmental offer letter) you were provided with a link to the Student Handbook. The most up to date version is on the university’s academic matters page. It is essential that you read and understand the content of the University Student Handbook because it outlines the considerable role of the Proctors in maintaining appropriate academic conduct and discipline within the University.
Examination Regulations
The ‘Exam Regs’ is an online resource with detailed information about all programmes of study offered by the University. Students looking for generic information about exams (what to take, general exam conduct, etc) should refer to the Examinations guidance on the University webpages.
Assessments and Examinations (Students on taught programmes)
If you are a student on a taught programme, you will be invited by email to enter for your chosen assessments and examinations within the ‘My Exams’ section of Student Self-Service. (If you have no optional elements, your core modules will simply be displayed instead.) There will be a deadline by which you must register your choices, details of which your department will provide. If you miss the deadline or subsequently wish to change an option, please note that you will be charged an administration fee by the university for doing so.
The College Office is required to submit change of options forms to the academic records office on behalf of students, so please contact the College Office Administrative Assistant if you need to make changes to your assessments. Any questions around your specific course modules should be directed to your department in the first instance.
Alternative Examination Arrangements
Any student with particular examination needs may apply to the Proctors (through the college) for approval of examination adjustments. This may be because of a disability, a specific learning difficulty (dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc), or another medical condition. It may also be for reasons of faith, for example if a candidate is unable to take papers because of religious festivals, or if he or she is fasting. Please contact the Academic Registrar about requesting such adjustments, preferably with as much notice as possible. Late adjustment requests are not guaranteed to be accepted by the University.
Extensions
If you find that you are unable to meet a summative assessment submission deadline due to illness or another urgent cause, please first read Problems completing yourassessment and the more detailed guidance on Part 14.
Under certain circumstances, a student can self-certify for an extension of up to 7 days, once per submission and up to twice per academic year – NB other conditions apply. If you have grounds for a longer extension (and can provide third-party independent evidence in support, such as a medical certificate), the college will be required to make an application to the Proctors on your behalf. It is possible to apply for an extension retrospectively or for a late submission penalty waiver (ie after a submission has been submitted late—but there is a time limit as to when this can be done). Please note that computing or IT problems, including failing to follow submission instructions on the assessment platform Inspera will usually not be accepted as valid grounds.
Please contact the Academic Registrar or Deputy Academic Registrar as soon as possible outlining your circumstances.
Mitigating Circumstances
If a significant problem occurs during or shortly before an examination (or whilst you are working on an assessment), which you think will have seriously affected your performance, it is possible for you to submit a notice of Mitigating Circumstances (MCE). Students looking to submit an MCE should read the guidance document provided on the university website. In instances where the college was supporting you through this issue, you may also choose to submit this via the college. In these instances you will need to speak with either the Academic Registrar or Deputy Academic Registrar ahead of submitting the MCE. As with an extension request, the notice should be accompanied by third party evidence, such as a medical certificate. Notices should be submitted as soon as possible after the examination or assessment deadline and before the final examination board.
Academic Milestones (Research Students)
Research students at Oxford are expected to meet key milestones during the course of their studies. Each stage of progress involves completion and submission of an application form (Graduate Studies Office or GSO form for short), which needs to be completed sequentially by the student, supervisor, College, and then Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in turn.
GSO forms currently exist for the most part as integrated online forms via the Student Self-Service Portal, under My Student Record. In some circumstances you will be directed by your department to complete a paper-based form to send to the relevant team for processing. Please email the document (once you and your supervisor have completed the relevant sections) to the Deputy Academic Registrar. Please allow 3-5 working days for these to be processed by the college. It is important to keep this in mind when planning your milestone application documentation. In addition to the standard GSO forms, there are also a number of forms for use in exceptional circumstances, such as for deferral of key milestones and extensions (usually of one additional term). These should first be discussed with your Academic Supervisor.
Suspension of Status
Suspension of Status, which effectively ‘stops the clock’ on your academic work, might be appropriate in certain circumstances. To discuss your situation, please contact the Senior Tutor, Academic Registrar or Deputy Academic Registrar
Academic Transcripts
If you are pursuing a taught degree, you can access digital copies of your transcript via the e-documents service (see below). On-course/mid-course transcripts are not usually available, and if one is required this would be unofficial. You can order a replacement/additional copy of the final transcript through the University’s online store. Transcripts are not produced at Oxford for research students. If you require a letter to provide evidence of your current status with regard to progression milestones, please contact the College Office.
University e-Documents service
This new service, launched by the University in August 2022, allows students and alumni access to digital copies of their academic documents (transcripts, degree certificates and degree confirmation letters). There is a one-off registration fee, but students will have unlimited access after they have registered and paid for the service. Students and Alumni can sign up for this service here. Please also refer to the helpful FAQs web page concerning the e-Documents service. If you have any issues or questions surrounding this service the college is not able to help as this is a University run service; you will need to contact the e-Documents team.
Degree Certificates
It is not possible to receive a degree certificate until the degree has been conferred at a ceremony. A Degree Confirmation Letter can be downloaded via the above service to verify that your course has been successfully completed but that the degree has not yet been conferred.
Degree Ceremonies
Degree ceremonies are organised by the central university, but a key feature of the institution’s collegiate nature is that colleges present graduands for their degrees. This means that, whilst there are over 30 degree ceremonies each year in total, Green Templeton will present students at approximately seven ceremonies, which have been scheduled to co-ordinate with the course completion dates of the majority of our students. The College Office team will send detailed information about the ceremony and college celebrations to registered graduands, commencing three months prior to the ceremony date.
Students on taught degree courses will automatically receive an invitation to their personal email, to book a place at a degree ceremony at the end of Michaelmas Term in their final year. The booking window closes at the end of January, but the college recommends that students book as early as possible to ensure a confirmed place. After the window has closed, the College Office team manage waiting lists and should be the first point of contact for all ceremony related questions. When the booking window opens it is very similar to booking concert tickets. The window opens and all taught degree students at GTC will be trying to book a space. A series of dates will be available to you, based on your course. You then choose a date that works for you. If your preferred date is not available, this means the ceremony has no eligible spaces for you. During the booking window we recommend checking regularly as students change their mind and spaces may become available. During the booking window the College Office is not able to make a booking for you, we can only provide guidance until the window closes. It is very common for students at Oxford to graduate several months to a year after their formal teaching has ended. It is also normal for your peers to have different ceremony dates available to them than you may have. This is because dates are based on the course’s final examination results release dates.
Research students and those on taught courses that operate in a modular nature will automatically receive an invitation to book a place at a degree ceremony once Leave to Supplicate has been granted (once the degree has been completed) and it is not possible for Research students to book a place before this point. There are a number of places at each ceremony reserved for Research graduands and so it is usually possible to get a place at the next ceremony at which Green Templeton are presenting. Again, post-invitation, the College Office should be the first point of contact with ceremony related questions.
Degrees can be conferred in absentia (in the graduand’s absence) at any ceremony. Please note, however, that it is not possible to attend a future ceremony if the degree has already been conferred.
