Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR)
When you study at Essex, you get far more than just a degree. Along with showcasing your academic achievements, the HEAR records any activities you’ve undertaken and logged through the Big Essex Award, and any awards and prizes you receive.
Activate your account
You'll receive an email from Gradintel, the University’s partner who provides your HEAR, with a link to activate your account. It’s important that you activate it now, even if you’re not graduating this year so that you can get full use from your HEAR.
Once your account is activated, you can log in and record your activities using the link below.
If you haven't received an email to activate your account, please contact award-docs@essex.ac.uk
Benefits
You can use your HEAR as you go through your degree as a record of all your achievements. You can also use it to apply for internships and placements, as it’s a fully certified record of your academic results too.
When you graduate, you can share a secure digital version of your HEAR with employers and other universities, providing them with a University-certified record of your achievements.
GradIntelligence has range of tools that you can use to get ready for your next step.
Eligibility
If you’re an undergraduate or postgraduate taught student who started at Essex in 2014 or after, you will have access to a HEAR. You just need to activate your account.
For undergraduate students or part-time postgraduate taught students, your HEAR will be updated at the end of each academic year to reflect your achievements in each module.
For postgraduate taught students on 12-month courses, your HEAR will be updated once you have completed your studies.
When you graduate, your HEAR will be finalised and you’ll have full access to it for life. Please note that if you are a postgraduate taught student eligible for a HEAR who graduated before 1 September 2019, you will need to contact award-docs@essex.ac.uk to request your HEAR upload; these were not automatically processed for postgraduates before this point.
If you began your studies before 2014, you won’t have access to a HEAR but you’ll have received a printed transcript of your academic results when you graduated.
Please note that because the HEAR is an academic transcript, enlisting modular achievements, these are not applicable for students studying research-only provision or those enrolled as Modular students.
How it works
If you want your activities, like being a Course Representative or being on your Sports Exec, to be shown on your HEAR then you’ll need to sign up to the Big Essex Award. It’s a really simple process and anything you complete through the Award will automatically be shown on your HEAR, along with any awards and prizes you receive.
- HEAR FAQs (.pdf)
- See a sample HEAR document (.pdf)
- Full list of eligible awards and prizes (.pdf)
If you haven't activated before graduating
For three months following conferral of your Award, GradIntelligence will continue to send out activation links to your University of Essex email account. Please note that your University of Essex email will be closed three months after you have officially graduated and left The University.
If it is your first time using Gradintelligence at Essex, you’ll need to activate your account using that link sent to your University email address (search Gradintelligence to find it). If you cannot find this you can activate your account online provided that you still have access to your Essex email address. Please note your Student ID is your PRID (i.e. ABCDE12345).
If you haven’t activated your account and no longer have access to your Essex email then please contact the Graduation and Awards Team who will be able to assist at award-docs@essex.ac.uk.
Your record for life
The HEAR is a secure digital document that you can access and share for life, for free. You’ll still get a degree certificate when you graduate, but there is no printed version of your HEAR. If a government or institution are refusing to accept the HEAR, please email the HEAR team at award-docs@essex.ac.uk.
Accessing and sharing
If you have activated your account but are having trouble finding your HEAR or if you wish to share it with a University or an employer please refer to:
- Accessing you HEAR (.pdf)
- Sharing Your HEAR (.pdf)
Data protection and your privacy
Please note that the University of Essex will share your data with GradIntel only for the purposes of producing the HEAR and making it available to you electronically.
Other GradIntel services
GradIntel makes available to registered students other services which may be of interest, such as:
- the preparation and submission of applications for advertised employment opportunities
- sharing your HEAR with employers
No data will be passed to employers without your permission and these services are entirely optional, you may choose which, if any, opportunities you wish to pursue further. Following registration with the GradIntel service you can specify your contact preferences.
How we'll communicate with you
We want to ensure that every eligible student is accessing all the benefits the HEAR has to offer therefore you will be contacted periodically via email.
The information in these emails is vitally important so it is essential that you ensure that gradintel.com is not directed to your junk folder.
We won't communicate with you unnecessarily, you will only receive emails in the following instances:
- to tell you what the HEAR is and why you need to sign up
- to remind you to sign up if you haven’t already – if you have activated your account you will no longer receive activation reminder emails from Gradintel.com
- to tell you your HEAR has been updated with exam marks as well as any new activities you have logged through the Big Essex Award
- to make you aware of any changes, such as requests to change your password, how to use GradIntel’s website, how to access/share your HEAR, etc
- to update you on any system issues, e.g. if the system is down, displaying out-of-date or incorrect information, etc
Gradintel.com will not use your email for marketing purposes but if you wish to opt-out of receiving emails after activating your account please contact customerservices@gradintel.com.
Gradintel.com will never email asking for your account login details so if you receive any emails asking for this information please delete and notify customerservices@gradintel.com.
