Postgraduate Programme Architecture & Award Structure

Prior to receiving the templates, the proposer must agree (i) the programme architecture and (ii) the award structure with Ewa Sadowska at Academic Affairs esdowska@tcd.ie. Once agreed, they cannot be changed by the proposer without discussion with Ewa.

Postgraduate Course Architecture

There are two main types of PG Taught course architecture in Trinity:

1. Traditional Postgraduate Course Structure:

Stand-alone direct entry to Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Masters programmes of normally either 1 year full-time duration or 2 year part-time duration.

2. Framework Postgraduate Course Structure

A framework-based programme structure is a sequence of three one-year part time courses (bearing the same title), each worth of 30 ECTS credits. The Framework allows student to progress, either consecutively or with interruption, from Postgraduate Certificate, to Postgraduate Diploma (Top-up), to finally Masters (Top-up).

A framework-based programme structure can be put in place in three ways:

1. Via a new course proposal;
2. Top-ups can be added to existing stand-alone postgraduate certificate/postgraduate diploma, via a PG course modification. 
3. Reconstitution of a stand-alone course to a framework model, via a PG course modification.

An overview of the course structure can be found in the image below.

Award Types offered in Trinity

The graphic below presents the NFQ Award Types offered in Trinity. Proposers need to consider the graphic to suggest for Academic Affairs' sign off the appropriate award type for the proposed programme.