- Six steps for applicants
- Apply and Adviser Track
- Our role in the process
- Training sessions
- Non-UK advisers
- Guides and resources
- UCAS Tariff
- Events
- News
- Important dates
- Student finance
I'm an independent referee - how do I add a reference?
Open the email from UCAS requesting a reference for an applicant. Click on the link within the email and type in the password given.
You will be asked to confirm that you are the nominated referee, that you are willing to provide an online reference and that you have read the advice and guidance for referees.
Within the website there are help pages to explain the application process, but please bear in mind the following points:
- You must enter the reference in one session, we are unable to store partially completed references.
- When you have finished your reference, please click preview and check it carefully. You can preview at any point to check how many lines and characters are still available.
- Once it is sent you will not be able to make amendments.
- Select 'submit' when the reference is complete. The applicant will be notified to say that the reference has been completed so that they can proceed with their application.
- The reference should be written using a standard word-processing package and should not exceed 4,000 characters (this includes spaces) or 47 lines (this includes blank lines), whichever is the shorter. Unfortunately, you cannot use bold, italics or underlining in the reference. If these types of formatting are used they will be removed from the text when your reference is pasted onto the application and saved.
From 2012 entry: applicants and referees will be able to enter some European characters that are not in the English alphabet (extended character sets) in certain fields of Apply. Information shown to applicants in Apply will refer to the extended characters as 'European characters'. Not all institutions can view these characters correctly, so a version of the application with substituted English characters is also made available to them. Characters that do not have a suitable ASCII English character version will be substituted with '#'.
View a full list of character substitutions from the Unicode extended character to ASCII English character version (PDF)
More information about extended character sets is provided in the Important changes for 2012 entry adviser's guide (PDF)
Providing a reference
- How do I add a reference?
- One member of staff who is a referee can't edit a reference, why is this?
- What exactly are universities and colleges looking for?
- How can I give my students the best chance of getting offers for everywhere they have applied?
- This applicant left our school two years ago and I don't know what he has been doing since, what should I write in his reference?
- How much detail should I give about a student's personality?
- I was not aware of this applicant's career plans until I read about them in her personal statement. I am not convinced that she has made the best career choice.
- Where do I enter the predicted grades?
- Should I refer to a student's performance in specific modules?
- Should I include a reference for an AS level subject the student is not taking to A level?
- This applicant has wanted to go to a specific university since she attended a summer school there in Year 10. Should I highlight this?
- Should I vary the text about the school? I want to avoid 'cutting and pasting' and my references being the same.
- Does the reference need to be completed by the head teacher or college principal?
- Should I ever submit additional material or references other than that provided through the UCAS process?
- Should details of our school's policy on certification of qualifications be included in our students' references?
- We missed the predicted grades off - can we add them?
- I'm an independent referee - how do I add a reference?