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Applying on Paper
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You will need to provide the details of one or two referees who can provide academic
references written in English.
References are submitted by the referee via an Electronic Reference System, which
referees have access to after you have submitted your application.
You will be asked to provide an email address for your referees on your online
application form. Check that you have the correct email address for your referee and
that your referee is happy and able to provide a reference for you before you
submit your application form and payment.
Institutional email addresses are preferred. Other email addresses can be used, and are
sufficient at the application stage, but we would need to take extra steps to verify such
references when we make an offer. This might include asking for the reference to be
sent again, on paper, if authenticity cannot be confirmed by other means.
If you do not have an email address for your referee, please follow the instructions
below for submitting the reference on paper.
Your referee will receive an email within 30 hours of you submitting your online
application form and payment, giving them access to the online Electronic Referencing
System.
Please note
It is your responsibility to ensure that the references are provided within 2 weeks
of you submitting the online application form. You should contact your referee
directly to ensure they provide the reference by the deadline.
After a reference has been successfully submitted by a referee, you will receive a
confirmation email, and the item will disappear from your self-service account.
The Graduate Admissions Office are not able to:
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accept references sent by email either from the applicant or directly from the
referee
use references from any previous application that you have made.
send reminders to referees, or contact them to chase outstanding references
Who should you nominate as an academic referee?
You are
Currently studying (or
recently finished studying) at
Undergraduate Level
Currently studying (or
recently finished studying) at
(Post)Graduate Level
Have not recently studied
Your First Referee
Your Second Referee
A tutor from your
A second tutor from your
Undergraduate degree course Undergraduate degree course
A tutor or supervisor from
your (post) Graduate degree
course
A member of academic staff
from your most recent Higher
Education course
A tutor from your Undergraduate
degree course or present graduate
tutor
Your employer or another person
who can testify to your academic
ability in a formal context
Submitting a reference on paper
If you do not have an email address for your referee, or referee is unable to use the
Electronic Reference System, please follow the steps below:
1. Download the Academic Reference Instruction Form (available in either PDF or
Word format.)
2. Fill in Part I of the form, using the application number provided to you in your selfservice account.
3. Download a cover sheet from your self-service account.
4. Give the form and cover sheet to your referee.
5. The referee must then send the following three things as a package:
o their reference on headed notepaper with an original signature (we cannot
accept electronic or scanned signatures),
o the completed form,
o the cover sheet.
6. They should send these in a sealed envelope, with their name signed across the
seal, to the address given at the bottom of the form.
Please note that if the form and cover sheet are not included with the reference we may
have trouble matching it with your application.
Files
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Referee Guide
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Academic Reference Instruction Form (doc)
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Academic Reference Instruction Form (pdf)
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