These help inform the university of what the student is expected to achieve It is important that you include a summary of the student’s academic performance and give accurate predicted grades.We spoke to Antonia Fox, Senior Admissions Administrator, who gave us an insight into what exactly you should include in the reference. If the applicant left education years ago, an employer, volunteering supervisor or trainer can write the reference.Īs a referee, you will need to provide your contact details such as email address, phone number, school/college name and full address, as well as your relationship to the student. References should be written by somebody who knows the applicant academically, such as a current teacher, tutor, principal or head teacher.

It is important to remember that it is an academic reference, so it should not be written by family, friends or partners as this could result in the application being cancelled. Like a personal statement, UCAS references also have to be less than either 4000 characters or 47 lines. They allow an unbiased but positive account of a student and their abilities, in addition to their own personal statement.

UCAS references are an important part of the UCAS journey and provide an academic assessment of an applicant’s suitability for a course. By Amy Fairbrother - 7 December 2018 What is a UCAS reference?