Award of degrees
Information on the process to confirm the award of your postgraduate research degree.
Next steps before your degree can be awarded
Once the examiners have approved the award of a degree and returned their forms to Research, Partnerships and Innovation there are several steps that must be completed before we can confirm the award of the degree:
- All examiners’ reports must be considered and approved by the relevant faculty before the degree can be awarded.
- By regulation, all students are debt-checked to ensure that any tuition or tuition-related fees have been paid.
- All students must upload a copy of their final awarded thesis to the University's online thesis repository and provide an Access to Thesis form specifying the terms under which access to the thesis can be granted.
- Students required to undertake the Doctoral Development Programme must have demonstrated satisfactory engagement via submission and approval of an Evidencing Development Summary.
If any of the above are outstanding, the degree will be withheld until they have been completed.
Once the above checks have been satisfactorily completed, Research, Partnerships and Innovation will update the student record with the degree award and send the student an award letter and the examiners' report forms via email.
Every effort is made to minimise the time between receipt of the examiners' reports, formal approval by the faculty and award of the degree; however, this process can take several weeks. Students can help expedite the process by ensuring that they have completed any required tasks in good time, such as submitting a DDP Evidencing Development Summary, paying outstanding fees, and providing an electronic Library copy of their thesis and Access to Thesis form. Any student who requires urgent notification of their award, eg. for employment purposes, should alert Research, Partnerships and Innovation.
Immigration advice for international students
If you have a Student visa and have completed your programme earlier than expected your visa may be impacted. The University will report your 'early completion' to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) if you have finished more than one month before the course end date on your latest CAS statement. If so, you may receive a visa cancellation notice from UKVI which will either give you an earlier visa expiry date (if you are in the UK) or cancel your visa with immediate effect (if you are overseas). You should not leave the UK if you have completed early and intend to stay in the country or make a new visa application, including the Graduate visa. If you are reported for early completion you should receive an email from International Student Support, Advice and Compliance (ISSAC) with further visa advice shortly. You can read more here: https://sheffield.ac.uk/student-visas-immigration/during-study/change-status/early-completion.
If you intend to apply for the Graduate Immigration Route, you should not submit your visa application until you have received an email from ISSAC confirming that they have reported your eligibility to UKVI. If your Student visa expires soon and you have not received a Graduate visa eligibility email you must contact ISSAC. You can read more about the Graduate visa here: https://sheffield.ac.uk/student-visas-immigration/working-uk/after-studies/graduate-route.
You can also find more support about staying in the UK and different visa options on this webpage: https://sheffield.ac.uk/student-visas-immigration/after-studies.
Transferring and disposing of your research data at the end of your degree
It is the responsibility of all postgraduate research students to ensure that they review and move, delete or transfer ownership of any data they have collected during their time at the University. Please read the guidance on how to do this and take the appropriate steps to manage your research data. This must be done prior to your student account being closed when you are awarded your degree.
Transferring and disposing of your research data at the end of your degree
Conferment of degrees
Following the award of a degree, the Corporate Events Team will contact the student by email in due course with details of when the degree will be conferred. Enquiries concerning graduation ceremonies, conferment of degrees or receipt of degree certificates should be addressed to the Corporate Events Team using their contact form.
Candidates who are awarded their degree by the end of March will be invited to attend the July graduation ceremonies and candidates who are awarded by the end of September will be invited to attend the January graduation ceremonies. Candidates completing after these deadlines will be invited only if space permits and may be required to wait until the next ceremony period.
Students should not presume automatic inclusion, even if schools and supervisors suggest it. Only the Corporate Events Team can confirm invitations to specific ceremonies.