Changes to undergraduate references for 2024 entry | Undergraduate | UCAS

We’ve worked with over 180 universities and colleges, 700 teachers and representative bodies, and nearly 15,000 students to build on the findings from the Reimagining UK Admissions report 2021.

Following an extensive review of the UCAS Undergraduate reference process with our adviser and provider advisory groups, including The Admissions Development Group, and broader validation with our key customer groups, reference requirements will be changing for 2024 entry.

Universities and colleges have told us that it’s becoming challenging to meaningfully compare applicants’ academic references as the content varies from referee to referee.
Advisers report increasing pressure to invest more and more time in compiling the references with an expectation that this will increase applicants’ chances of success.

Kate Davidson, Lead Admissions Officer, University of Aberdeen

References are there to reinforce what’s on that application form. What we want are the exceptional circumstances that may surround an applicant. The new structure hopefully won’t take an adviser so long, it’ll be much shorter, much more succinct and we won’t miss anything.

References will have three distinct sections

To help advisers focus their references on the areas providers want to know more about, we’re replacing the free text approach with three structured sections. 

These sections will start from the 2024 entry cycle, which opens in May for all undergraduate applications: 

Key benefits

Advisers have built-in clarity and confidence they are providing information that is useful.
Advisers have more time and resources to allocate to students on the discovery phase of their application journey.
Students have more transparency over the information shared about them.
Providers can easily find information to make selection decisions and target support.

Rob Evans, Head of Admissions, University of Sussex

The reference is most valuable where it is providing us with additional, contextual information about the student (especially where their educational journey has been, in any way, non-standard). There is considerable variation in what is included in the current reference so the hope is the reformed statement will be fairer to all applicants.

Admissions Development Group

Members

Sarah Allen	Arts University Plymouth
Kate Davidson	University of Aberdeen
Pete Edge	University of Law
Rob Evans	University of Sussex
Nick Hull	University of Birmingham
Emily Knox	Leeds Conservatoire
Stacey Lloyd	Sheffield Hallam University
Roisin McEvoy	Queen’s University Belfast
Mike Nicholson	University of Cambridge
Oliver Stacey	University of South Wales
Amy Smith	University of Nottingham Trent
Ben Stone	University of Wolverhampton

adviser-lives-cta.png

Adviser Lives

We're hosting Adviser Live sessions on references for 2024 and additional reform workshops online, so all teachers and advisers can feed into our reform plans for the future.

Register here

Reference guidance

UCAS registered centre linked applications
References of up to 4,000 characters, (including spaces, headings and line breaks), comprising the following three sections:

Section 1: Establishment details

Enter a general statement about your school, college/centre (mandatory).

Information could include:
- context of your school, college or centre.g. performance, intake demographics, progression rates to higher education etc 
- your portfolio of qualification provision and any restrictions on options students may have
- information about your school, college or centre which may affect performance, such as significant staff changes, or damage to buildings
Section 2: Extenuating circumstances

Enter any information about extenuating circumstances which may affect this applicant’s performance in examinations or other assessments (optional).

Include relevant information that contextualises the grades (achieved or predicted), for example:
- individual circumstances – e.g., mature student, disability, serious, acute, or chronic illness, bereavement, significant adverse personal circumstances (with applicant consent) where this has had led to a mismatch match between student potential and achieved or predicted grades
- context as to why there is a disparity between an individual’s grades achieved throughout the school or college (e.g. at GCSE/ Scottish national 4/5 equivalent and predicted grades, where applicable) 
Section 3: Other

Use this section to outline any other circumstances specific to the applicant that you think universities/colleges should be aware of, or how they can support the applicant (optional).

Include relevant information that contextualises the impact of specific circumstances and the measures put in place, for example:
- student support needs the university or college should consider putting in place to ensure the applicant can thrive on their course (with applicant’s consent) – e.g. highlight the measures the school, college or centre put in place to ensure the student’s inclusion/experience
- any barriers the applicant has faced in accessing work experience opportunities, only where relevant to the course applied to
- factors which may impact the applicant’s ability to attend and engage in an interview
It is accepted that most references will not contain any information in sections 2 and 3. Ticking ‘no information to enter for this section’ in the adviser portal will highlight to universities and colleges that no information has been supplied under these headings.
References for independent applicants
- Applicants who apply independently, rather than linked to a school or college, must ask for a reference from someone who isn’t a family member, friend, partner or ex-partner, and must not write it themselves. We ask applicants to make sure they have the agreement of their chosen referee before entering their details into their application.
- If you’ve been asked to be a referee for an independent applicant you’ll receive an email from us with a password, which will allow you to input and submit your reference. The applicant cannot submit their application to UCAS until a reference is attached.
- What you will include in the reference will depend on how you know the applicant, and how familiar you are with their plans and experience. It’s a good idea to speak to them about their application before you write the reference. 
References of up to 4,000 characters (including spaces, headings and line breaks) or 47 lines of text, whichever comes first, comprising the following sections:

Section 1: Relationship to applicant

Provide an overview of your relationship with the applicant (mandatory) .

Section 2: Extenuating circumstances

Enter any information about extenuating circumstances which may affect this applicant’s performance in examinations or other assessments (optional).

This could include: 
- individual circumstances – e.g., identify if they are a ‘mature’ student, disability, serious, acute, or chronic illness, bereavement, or any significant adverse personal circumstances (with applicant consent)
- anything that contexualises the grades (achieved or predicted)
- upcoming external examinations and assessments
Section 3: Other

Use this section to outline any other circumstances specific to the applicant that you think universities/colleges should be aware of (optional).

Include relevant information that contextualises the impact of specific circumstances and the measures put in place, for example:
- applicant support needs the university or college should consider putting in place to ensure the applicant can thrive on their course (with applicant’s consent) – e.g. highlight the measures the school, college or centre put in place to ensure the student’s inclusion/experience
This could include:
- any barriers the applicant has faced in accessing work experience opportunities, where relevant to the course applied to
- factors which may impact the applicant’s ability to attend and engage in an interview
- applicant support needs the university or college should consider putting in place to ensure they can thrive on their course (with applicant’s consent)
It is accepted that most references will not contain any information in sections 2 and 3. Ticking ‘no information to enter for this section’ will highlight to universities and colleges that no information has been supplied under these headings.

Additional information and guidance

You can use up to 4,000 characters (including spaces, headings and line breaks) or 47 lines of text whichever comes first.
All references must be written in English. You will need to write in English, unless the applicant is applying to Welsh universities or colleges and the rest of their application is completed in Welsh – in which case the reference may, of course, be written in Welsh.
When writing a reference for any applicant, including those outside the UK, please remember that – under the Data Protection Act 2018 – the applicant can ask for a copy of the reference and any other personal information we have about them.
We recommend you inform universities and colleges of any changes to the applicant’s profile or circumstances that occur after the application is submitted to UCAS.
We recommend you write in a word processor first and then copy and paste into the online application (but watch out for the character and line count – the word-processor might get different values because it doesn’t count tabs or paragraphs). There is a reference template in the portal for you to use.

Centre management 2024

When you add into the online application, click ‘save’ regularly because it will time out after 35 minutes of inactivity.
You can use some European characters in the reference.
We recommend you save a copy of each reference you write for your records.
Avoid repeating any of the information they’ve given in their application, unless you want to comment on it, and avoid mentioning any university or college.
There must be a completed reference on the application before it is sent to us.

Predicted grades

As part of the reference, you will be asked to provide predicted grades for those qualifications entered as ‘pending’ – see further specific guidance. 

If you are a referee and work in the school the applicant is applying from, the application will be available in the adviser portal – see how to input the reference in the adviser portal.

Reference processes and terminology

Understand the reference processes and terminology for independent, centre-linked, and reference-only applicants.

Sarah Allen, Acting Head of Recruitment and Admissions, Arts University Plymouth

Changing the reference structure to focus on a few core areas will help make the process more efficient for schools and colleges, ensuring you know exactly what we need you to include in your answer, so you can be safe in the knowledge you have included the most useful key additional information to document your student's educational journey. This also helps ensure the process is fair for applicants, as a consistent reference structure is followed for all.

What's on this page?

Kate Davidson, Lead Admissions Officer, University of Aberdeen

References will have three distinct sections

Key benefits

Rob Evans, Head of Admissions, University of Sussex

Admissions Development Group

Members

Adviser Lives

Reference guidance

UCAS registered centre linked applications

References for independent applicants

Additional information and guidance

Centre management 2024

Predicted grades

Reference processes and terminology

Sarah Allen, Acting Head of Recruitment and Admissions, Arts University Plymouth

Was this page helpful?

Share this page

Sponsored articles

Psychology Degree in Leeds

Top ten student money tips

How to find a job