Certificates, transcripts and verifications FAQs

There can be only one original degree certificate in circulation at any one time. If a student’s award certificate has been lost, stolen or damaged, a replacement may be requested. In the event that the certificate has been damaged during transit, please email certificates@bcu.ac.uk with pictures of the damage and this will be resolved.

Replacement certificates will be issued at the University’s discretion, and the University reserves the right not to issue a replacement certificate or to specify reasons for this decision.

Replacement certificates will be produced in the format currently used by the University, and thus may not be an identical copy, but will have the same standing as the original which they replace.  If a replacement certificate is produced, the original will be invalidated, even if it was lost but subsequently located.

To request a replacement award / degree certificate, please complete the replacement form.

Unfortunately not, the name printed on your degree certificate must match the official record held by the University on the student record system. It is your responsibility to ensure the name on your record is correct and we cannot amend or add names once an award has been agreed by an exam board.

If your name is incorrect and your award is yet to be presented to an exam board please contact your School office https://icity.bcu.ac.uk/essentials/school-offices  who will advise on how to amend this.

If you have noticed a spelling error in your name including duplication of names and you have already been awarded please also contact your School office with a scan of your Passport in order for this to be corrected on your student record.

Please note - if you have already received a hard copy of your award document(s) which contain any errors, you will either need to provide photographic evidence that this has since been destroyed or return your incorrect document back to the university for this to be securely disposed of before a replacement can be issued to you. This is to comply with the university’s policy that only one original degree certificate can be in circulation at any one time.

All recently qualified students will receive an email soon after their award is confirmed at an exam board. This email will notify you when your certificate and transcript is available to request and requires you to confirm your current postal address.

If you did not receive this email or have not received your original certificate please email certificates@bcu.ac.uk and include the following information: 

• Full name as recorded when you were enrolled
• Date of Birth
• Student ID number (if Known)
• Course studied
• Date course was completed

The University’s change of name in 2007 means that all certificates which would have previously been issued under the name of University of Central England in Birmingham or certificates issued under the name of Birmingham Polytechnic will bear the name “Birmingham City University”.

Birmingham City University has launched a new service that will provide future award holders with access to a digital version of their award certificate. This service also enables graduates to choose to share their digital certificate securely with prospective employers, universities and third parties.

This service is being offered in addition to receiving a hard copy certificate and academic transcript, however please note we are not currently able to provide digital copies of transcripts. 

A transcript is an official document from Birmingham City University which provides a summary of academic performance, including qualification obtained, modules taken and marks achieved. It also details your University start date, programme of study, level and degree class conferred (as appropriate). The transcript is a legal University document and therefore cannot be altered.

If your award was prior to September 2010, we are unable to issue you with your transcript because detailed module information is unavailable from this time. You can request a replacement certificate and/or verification letter, which will confirm the course studied and award obtained (if applicable).

To request a verification of study letter please contact verifications@bcu.ac.uk

• Name as recorded when you were enrolled
• Date of Birth
• Student ID number (if known)
• Course studied
• Date course was completed

It is not possible to amend the transcript as it is an official document presented in a standardised format which includes details of all modules that contribute to your award.

Award certificates and transcripts will be sent via Royal Mail in a large-format, hard-backed envelope. You will receive an email once your documents have been posted please allow 10 days from the date of this email for your documents to arrive at addresses within the UK, and up to 28 working days for international addresses.

Once your award documents have left Birmingham City University and you have received a courtesy email confirming this, we are unable to make amendments to your postal address. We will need to allow for the mentioned delivery timescales to pass before posting these out again; however if your documents have been returned to us via Royal Mail the Certificates Team will be in contact asking for an updated address to re-post these.

Before contacting to advise that your documents have not arrived we ask that you wait until the above timescales have expired. In the unfortunate event that you do not receive your documents please email certificates@bcu.ac.uk and include your student name and ID number.

The University cannot accept responsibility for any loss, damage or delays incurred once documents have been posted.

If documents are returned to the university due to an incorrect or incomplete address you will be contacted to ask for correct and complete address details for this to be reissued without charge. However if documents are lost or stolen, replacement documents will need to be purchased.

The table provides details of the standard processing time for requests:

After submitting your request via the online replacement form, you will be contacted within 30 working days to provide proof of ID to verify your Request and Address. Once your request has been verified, you will be provided with a unique reference number and the link to our online store where you will be able to make payment by credit/debit card.

You will be required to make payment within 30 days. Failure to do so will cancel your original request and you will be required to submit a new request online.

Where our records show a balance of tuition fees is still payable to Birmingham City University according to the University’s Payment Policy, whilst any such fees remain outstanding, you are not eligible to receive a certificate, transcript and verification letter. If you are advised of this in the first instance please contact the Collections Team (Finance) who will investigate any issue in which you believe all fees have been paid.

The Collections team can be contacted at collections@bcu.ac.uk ; please quote your student ID number in the e-mail subject header.

If you do recognise that fees are owed and wish to make a payment you can do this securely online here .

Once you have paid your tuition fees please contact certificates@bcu.ac.uk and we will send further instructions on how to receive your certificate and transcript.

A certified document is a copy of your original document, which has been stamped and signed to confirm it is a true and accurate copy of the original. Certified copies can be useful if you do not wish to submit your original documents to a third party. Due to GDPR regulations you must be able to provide high quality scanned or photocopies of the originals for them to be certified as the University is unable to provide these. Please contact verifications@bcu.ac.uk for this service.

For information relating to certificates (including replacement certificates) or transcripts, please email certificates@bcu.ac.uk

For information relating to verification of awards, certifying your award certificate and/or transcript, world education services (WES) applications, please email verifications@bcu.ac.uk

For information relating to replacement transcripts please contact your School office https://icity.bcu.ac.uk/essentials/school-offices

Should you have any further queries the Student Lifecycle team (Events) can be contacted on +44 (0)121 331 6898. 

Please note that due to the General Data Protection Regulation we cannot discuss information about a student with a third party over the phone or via email without that student’s handwritten authority.

All third party enquiries must now submit their request via Hedd www.hedd.ac.uk and will be responded to via this platform within a 10 working day timeframe. We will require a hand signed declaration from the former student alongside any enquiry from a third-party organization. Should you encounter any problems or have any queries, please email heddhelp@prospects.ac.uk, including your phone number if you would like a call back. 

Please note, we are unable to provide any verification if the former student holds any financial obligations with the university.