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Certificates

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Graduates - we will send your degree parchment to your home address and issue your Higher Education Achievement Report approximately two months after you receive your results.

All Northumbria University graduates who complete a formal award receive a degree parchment or certificate.

Below you will find details relating to the distribution and production of certificates, as well as information on transcripts.

Click on the title of the section to reveal the information you require.

The parchments for University degrees and other awards are printed by Academic Registry following the final examination boards, and are automatically sent to the student's home address via standard post. 

To minimise any delays and to ensure that your certificate reaches you safely, your full postal home address must be correct in your student record. Current students can amend their certificate delivery address via the link in their original Congregation invitation or via their Student Portal. Any amendments must be completed in advance of your final academic results release.

If you have an international address, your certificate will be sent out, free of charge, by priority airmail but this postal service does not have a tracking facility. We kindly ask graduates to allow six weeks from dispatch for delivery to an international address.  You do have the option of paying for DHL express delivery, you can make an online application and payment for DHL via the congregation booking task and we can then arrange for your certificate to be sent out by DHL.  

Please note, if you have a home address in China, we will arrange to send your certificate by DHL express (free of charge to you)  to our China Office in Beijing, Once your certificate arrives in Beijing, a representative from our China Office will contact you to check your full postal address and phone number and arrange for your certificate to be sent onto you. 

Parchments will include the student's name as recorded on the University’s student record system. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that their full legal name (including your middle name if you have one) is recorded completely and spelled correctly.  Please update any incorrect or incomplete information by contacting Ask4help.  You will need to provide appropriate ID and documentation.  There is a cost involved in changes made after your original certificate has been printed so please ensure that your details are correct. 


A statement on the University's position on certificate name changes can be found here.

Further information from the Deed Poll Office regarding the changing of names on official documents can be found by clicking here.

Certificates may be withheld from students by the University for the following reasons:
In the case of a student appeal against the final award, the parchment will be withheld until the outcome of the appeal is known.
In the case of a graduating student having outstanding debts to the University, the parchment will be withheld until the debt is cleared. Please contact Finance to discuss any outstanding payments that need to be made by calling (0191) 227 4050 or by contacting Ask4help. 

The Diploma Supplement issued by Northumbria University follows the model developed by the European Commission, Council of Europe and UNESCO/CEPES. The purpose of the supplement is to provide sufficient independent data to improve the international ‘transparency’, and fair academic and professional recognition of qualifications (diplomas, degrees certificates etc.).

It is designed to provide a description of the nature, level, context, content, and status of the studies that were pursued and successfully completed by the individual named on the original qualification to which this supplement is appended.

If you require a copy of a diploma supplement please contact the Exams and Awards team via our enquiry form.


Graduates can request a certified copy of their award certificate and/or transcript by using the online application and payments at the right this page. The cost for this is £10 per document. For £10, graduates will receive a hard copy of their document and an electronic version by email once the document has been produced.
Important Notice - applications for certified copies of documents can be requested by completing the online application and making a payment using the links on the right of the page or the links below.

Online application and payment for certified copy of certificate only.

Online application and payment for certified copy of transcript only.

Online application and payment for certified copy of certificate and transcript.

Please note, Academic Registry aim to process applications within 7-10 working days; this may be longer during peak periods.

To apply for a duplicate certificate or transcript please use our online application system. To access the online application system please visit the links on the right hand side of this page. Or click here.
All applicants are required to complete an online application form, which includes the declaration, and pay the fee of £40. Upon completion, the online application will be sent to Academic Registry for processing.   
An applicant seeking a duplicate certificate for a University award must provide the University with either:

  • The damaged or defaced certificate OR
  • The University's Declaration section of the online application. You must set out fully the circumstances in which the certificate was lost or destroyed, and include an undertaking that, should a duplicate be issued, it will be returned to the University if the original is subsequently found.

Please Note, Academic Registry aim to process applications within 7-10 working days; this may be longer during peak periods.  Graduates are only able to request one copy of their original certificate; multiple applications will not be processed.


Graduates do not automatically receive a copy of their academic transcript along with their final degree certificate. All students receive access to an electronic copy of their transcript in the form of their HEAR. For more information on the HEAR please click here.

Between 2005 and 2014 graduates would have received an official transcript with their certificate. Official copies of these transcripts are only available for those who completed courses after 2005. If graduates have lost or misplaced their original transcript they can apply for a replacement at a cost of £30 by completing the online application form by clicking on the ‘Duplicate Transcripts Online Application and Payments’ link on the right hand side of this page or click here.

If you studied at Northumbria between 1993 and 2005, official transcripts were not issued at that time and so cannot be reproduced. If you need a breakdown of your marks and modules from that period of study, please contact the Certificates Team in the first instance for advice. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that we can provide these details.

Original copies of transcripts and certificates cannot be sent to third party institutions. If graduates are applying for further study etc Academic Registry can send certified copies of a graduate's certificate and transcript to addresses provided by graduates, however, this may not be possible during peak periods or to specific deadlines.

Please note, Academic Registry aim to process applications within 7-10 working days; this may be longer during peak periods.

To request DHL delivery for any applications for original or certified copies of documents to be sent overseas you can make a payment here.

If you require a letter to support applications and as proof of your award, we can supply a conferral letter printed on University headed paper.

This document details the course that you studied, the award you achieved, the level of award and the date that you were awarded.

To obtain, please contact the team with the full name in which you studied with us,either your date of birth or your student ID number and the title of the award you completed.  If you have any specific requirements for the letter, please include this detail in your email. 

Please note, Academic Registry aim to process applications within 7-10 working days; this may be longer during peak periods.

Graduates can request copies of Module Descriptions for each of the modules they studied (where available). 

Please note that some older records may not be available. If you studied prior to 2006, please contact the certificates team.

To purchase copies of Module Descriptors click here.

In 1992 Newcastle Polytechnic became the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, also known as Northumbria University. This change in status from Polytechnic to University came about following the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, which abolished the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the body responsible for awarding all Polytechnic degrees.

Certificates - The Open University are now responsible for the care and custody of all CNAA records for the purposes of authenticating original award documents, issuing copies and providing verification of entries. Please visit their website for an application form here . For queries please call (0)1908 332 852.  

Transcripts - With the exception of a few selected Health related courses, Northumbria University does not hold transcripts for pre-1992 Polytechnic students as they were not administered by the University. We are therefore unable to produce transcripts for this period. Pre-1992 transcripts are also not available from the Open University.  Transcripts for this period are likely to have been disposed of at point of transfer to University status.

For replacement BTEC awards prior to 1992, please contact EdExcel on 0845 618 0440 (from within the UK) or +44 (0)161 855 7514 (from outside the UK)

Why haven’t I received my certificate?

There are several reasons you may not have received your certificate.

  • We kindly ask graduates to allow 8 weeks after receiving your results for your certificate to be produced and sent out to you. There will, therefore, be a delay between receiving your results and receiving your certificate.
  • The certificate may be lost in the post. Please contact the team via our enquiry form if you have been waiting longer than 8 weeks for your certificate.
  • Students re-sitting modules will receive their certificates once resits are completed and our department has been notified of your success.

I cannot find an answer to my question; who do I need to speak to?

  • Please complete our enquiry form to speak to a member of the certificates team.

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