Leaving the University with an alternative award

The Certificate of Higher Education is awarded to students in recognition of the credits they have achieved. You cannot attend Graduation if you accept this alternative award.

This is a Level 4 qualification and is not at the same level as an honours degree which is a Level 6 qualification.

Choosing to leave the University with a Certificate of Higher Education means not undertaking any further reassessment. You would therefore no longer be able to meet the eligibility criteria to be granted your full award in your chosen course. If you choose not to undertake any reassessment you have been offered to achieve your full award, you will not be able to undertake this later.

The Diploma of Higher Education is awarded to students in recognition of the credits they have achieved. You can still attend Graduation if you decide to leave with this alternative award without undertaking further reassessment.

This is a Level 5 qualification and is not at the same level as an honours degree which is a Level 6 qualification.

Choosing to leave the University with a Diploma of Higher Education means not undertaking any further reassessment. You would therefore no longer be able to meet the eligibility criteria to be granted your full award in your chosen course. If you choose not to undertake any reassessment you have been offered to achieve your full award, you will not be able to undertake this later.

A Foundation Degree is awarded to students in recognition of the credits they have achieved on a course where this is an available exit award. You can still attend Graduation if you accept this alternative award.

This is a Level 5 qualification and is not at the same level as an honours degree which is a Level 6 qualification.

Choosing to leave the University with a Foundation Degree means not undertaking any further reassessment. You would therefore no longer be able to meet the eligibility criteria to be granted your full award in your chosen course. If you choose not to undertake any reassessment you have been offered to achieve your full award, you will not be able to undertake this later.

An Ordinary Degree is awarded to students in recognition of the credits they have achieved. You can still attend Graduation if you have been granted this alternative award, even if you are undertaking further reassessment.

This is a Level 6 qualification but is not an honours degree and so is unclassified.

Choosing to leave the University with an Ordinary Degree means not undertaking any further reassessment. You would therefore no longer be able to meet the eligibility criteria to be granted your full award in your chosen course. If you choose not to undertake any reassessment you have been offered to achieve your full award, you will not be able to undertake this later.

This means you have not met the accreditation requirements for your course but are eligible to be awarded a full honours degree in the non-accredited variant. This is a full honours degree at Level 6 and is classified. You can still attend Graduation if you accept this alternative award

Information for CSEE students graduating on non-accredited courses

If you have been awarded an unaccredited alternative to the original accredited degree you were studying towards, this is because you did not meet the requirements of either the British Computer Society (BCS) or the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

As part of this accreditation process, these professional bodies require that students pass all modules and achieve a mark of 30 in all of their coursework or exam components.

This is a stricter requirement than the normal Rules of Assessment at the University of Essex. Consequently, we are in the position to award you a similar, unaccredited degree.

How this affects you

While some employers prefer accredited degrees, and a small number require them, in practice many employers do not specifically ask about programme accreditation, nor do they expect their employees to become professionally registered.

Furthermore, your degree is not a ‘lesser’ programme of study than one of the accredited programmes; your teaching has been to the same high standard and the taught components are the same. However, it does mean that if you want to achieve professional registration, such as CEng or similar, your degree programme will not count towards this professional registration.

Professional registration is not simply achieved by having an appropriately accredited degree, it also requires completion of some in-work components, which often take two years or more, post-degree –and sometimes higher-level study, such as a Masters-level programme.

By being awarded a non-accredited degree you would have to demonstrate, through your later work, that you had achieved the requirements for registration, including components that are usually provided by an accredited degree.

You would need to discuss this with the appropriate professional body when, and if, you wished to seek professional registration. See the British Computer Society and Institute of Engineering and Technology for more details. If you’d like to talk to a member of staff to discuss these issues further, please email the CSEE School Office to make an appointment with one of the year supervisors or the Director of Undergraduate Studies or call 01206 872770. Alternatively, please talk to your Personal Tutor.

An aegrotat degree is not an honours degree and is unclassified. You can still attend Graduation if you accept this alternative award.

This is a Level 6 qualification and is awarded if extenuating circumstances mean that the degree cannot be classified.

If you are awarded an Aegrotat, your outcome letter will make clear any reassessment opportunities which are available to you to allow you to achieve your full award.

If you have been awarded an alternative exit award you may still attend a Graduation ceremony depending on the type of award you have been granted. We are pleased to confirm that we are running Spring Graduation ceremonies between Monday 15 and Friday 19 April.

All expected graduates will be contacted with information about when their ceremony will be and how to book in due course. Please ensure your external email address is up to date in MyEssex so we can stay in touch. All updates will also be published on our Graduation website. Please contact graduation@essex.ac.uk should you have any queries in the meantime.

Your electronic award certificate will be available on your GradIntelligence account, alongside your HEAR, within five working days of your award being conferred. If you have been given a choice of outcomes, this will be available five working days after you have confirmed your decision.

You will also receive a hard copy award certificate which will be sent via post. The Graduation and Awards Team will contact you via your Essex email to confirm where the certificate should be posted. If you do not confirm your address by the deadline stated by the Graduation and Awards Team when they contact you, your Certificate will be posted to your home address on MyEssex.

Please contact award-docs@essex.ac.uk if you require further assistance.

Your academic transcript will be available electronically as part of your Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR) within five working days. If you have been given a choice of outcomes, your HEAR will not updated until five working days after you have confirmed your choice. You can access your HEAR and securely share it with others via your GradIntelligence account. We no longer issue hard copies of students' transcripts as standard.

Please contact award-docs@essex.ac.uk should you require further assistance.

If you have a Tier 4 or Student Route visa, please see our immigration webpages to determine what impact your Board of Examiners outcome may have on your visa.