Durham University announces it will now honour all offers successfully met

Durham University has confirmed that they will honour all offers for incoming graduates where grade requirements have been successfully met, as well as offering bursaries to students who defer until 2021.

This comes after the government’s change in policy on Monday, which meant that the controversial algorithm originally put in place to determine students’ final grades was dropped, in favour of the Centre Assessment Grades awarded by their school or college. The news, accompanied by the University’s full statement on 2020 results procedures was announced on Twitter this morning.

The thread goes on to add: “We understand that this has been an extremely challenging time for applicants to Durham University, their families and schools. Our Admissions team are working incredibly hard to answer as many questions as possible.”

The University’s policy states that any applicant awarded an offer by Durham University for 2020 or 2021 will be admitted if their Centre Assessed Grades meet the conditions of their offer, should they still wish to come to Durham. Additionally, any student who successfully makes an appeal, and therefore meets the conditions of their offer will be admitted to study.

Any students wishing to sit Autumn examinations should inform the University by no later than the 31st August, and should these results mean that they now meet the requirements of their offer, their place will be available to them for 2021 entry. Where possible, the University will try to ensure that students will retain the original college allocation they were given for 2020 entry.

However, the University does warn that some places may need to be deferred until 2021 where courses are now full, even if the U-turn means that they already meet the grade requirements for admittance this year.

Durham University stated: “We will do as much as we can to minimise this requirement by seeking volunteers for deferral from across all incoming students, including those who have already had their places confirmed for 2020. Students who opt to defer to 2021 will be guaranteed College accommodation in 2021 and will be provided with a bursary by Durham University to help with their transition to university life.”

Though UCAS is yet to provide the University with formal updates to results, applicants are encouraged not to take any action to release themselves from a place they might currently hold at another university.

The full updated statement from Durham University can be found here.