▌★ Guest column References for an undergraduate UCAS application
UCAS is the official admissions service for UK universities and colleges. A non-profit organisation with registered charity status, UCAS works on behalf of universities to connect people to higher education. They process undergraduate applications for full-time courses at UK universities and colleges (as well as some other European countries) and provide a central source of information and advice on higher education.

In the changing qualification landscape, a student’s reference will play an increasingly important role in providing universities and colleges with an insight into a student’s qualifications. To help you, UCAS’s Head of Adviser Experience, Louise Evans, shares three top tips for consideration when writing references, in accordance with recommendations from Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA) National Expert Think Tank (NETT).

1. As the reference has a limited set of characters (4,000 characters or 47 lines of text), we recommend you create a web page giving details of your school or college’s qualification offer and the rationale behind it. The URL to this page can then be entered in the reference.
2. Include why the school or college chose to offer the provision that it does, and what the considerations were when deciding this programme. For example, did funding influence your choice of qualifications offered? Did the educational preferences of the school lead to certain methods of study being followed?.
3. What information is used to determine predicted grades? For example, do you offer internal assessment?

Don’t forget, the reference is not your only opportunity to provide information about your students, and the web page mentioned above does not replace direct engagement with higher education providers. Higher education providers welcome further dialogue with referees and would urge schools and colleges to inform them of any changes to the student’s profile, or circumstances, which occur after the point of application.

You can visit www.ucas.com/advisers/references for specific, tailored advice, which differs depending on the type of study.

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