Important information about the RPL claims
RPL claims for non-Manchester Met credit transfers are subject to a reduced tuition fee based on the number of credits claimed. Please refer to our finance section for confirmation of the current amount payable per unit. The RPL fee is reviewed annually and published prior to the commencement of each academic year. All RPL fees are non-refundable.
If you have or intend to apply for a postgraduate loan this may have an impact on your eligibility for the loan. Please check with your loan provider prior to applying for any RPL credits. Your loan may be rejected as per the Government regulations depending on your type of course and domicile.
If you are considering submitting a claim for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) you should read through the University’s Policy for RPL to ensure you understand the purpose and requirements of the process.
Checking your eligibility
The RPL process is completely separate from the University’s admissions process and you should only submit an RPL claim if you have already received an offer of a place on a Manchester Met programme. If you have not yet applied for admission to Manchester Met, you must do this first by following the University’s application procedures for undergraduate or postgraduate programmes.
You will need to identify whether an RPL claim is appropriate for you. To identify whether an RPL claim is appropriate, you should find out about the content and structure of the Manchester Met programme you are enrolling on to see if it corresponds to the prior learning you have undertaken. You can get this information from the Admissions Tutor, Programme Leader or another academic member of the Programme Team. If you don’t have their contact details, approach the Student Hub as they will be able to help.
In considering whether or not to submit an RPL claim, you should make sure you are aware of the maximum amount of credit you may be exempted from. For most Manchester Met programmes, this is 50% of the award:
- If you are aiming for a BA/BSc (Honours) programme which is worth 360 credits, you will only be allowed to claim RPL for a maximum of 180 credits
- If you are aiming for a Master’s Degree worth 180 credits, the maximum amount of RPL you can claim is 90 credits
There are a few exceptions to this tariff and details can be found in the RPL Policy. Remember that you can only claim RPL against taught units, so you will not be able to make a claim for exemption from your dissertation or independent study project.
Submitting your RPL claim
If you decide to submit an RPL claim, the University will allocate an academic advisor who will have relevant subject/programme expertise and will support you with your claim. You should make contact with your advisor as soon as possible.
You should submit a claim using the RPL Claim Form. This form contains all the information that the University will need to assess your claim. You should complete sections A, B and C. Section B asks you to provide information about the Manchester Met unit/programme from which you are seeking exemption and Section C asks for evidence of the prior learning you have completed. By completing these sections, you will be showing the University that you understand how your prior learning enables you to meet the Learning Outcomes of the Manchester Met unit/programme. You must include enough information to show that:
- you have met the Learning Outcomes of the Manchester Met unit/programme
- the content/topics covered by your prior learning matches the Manchester Met unit(s) or is relevant to the Manchester Met programme
- the level of your prior learning is the same as or higher than the level of the Manchester Met unit/programme (i.e. if you are seeking exemption from the first year of a three-year undergraduate degree, your prior learning must have been at level 4 or higher)
- the value of your prior learning is equal to or higher than the value of the Manchester Met unit/programme ‘s (N.B. Manchester Met measures the value of all learning in terms of credits, with each credit being equivalent to 10 hours of student effort)
- your prior learning was undertaken recently enough to still be relevant to the Manchester Met unit/programme’s (N.B. Qualifications more than 5 years old will not normally be accepted and in some cases, such as professionally accredited programmes/units, prior learning will need to have been completed more recently. You should check this with your academic advisor.)
- the prior learning was undertaken by you
All evidence you submit to support your claim must be written in English. Remember to include all relevant prior learning that you have undertaken on your claim form as the University cannot consider any prior learning that is omitted, even if it was undertaken at Manchester Met. If you need any help completing the claim form, contact your academic advisor as soon as possible.
Before you submit your claim form, make sure that you have:
- fully completed all questions in sections A, B and C of the form
- included all of the relevant evidence to support your claim as required in sections B and C
- clearly labelled and numbered all pieces of supporting evidence and indicated which piece(s) of evidence relate to each section of the form
If you are unsure of the relevant fee, contact your academic advisor as soon as possible.
Receiving your decision
You should submit your claim as early as possible so that the University can assess it and let you know whether you have been granted exemption or not. This process normally takes around 4 weeks from the date we receive your claim (except during University closure at Christmas). If the programme/unit you are seeking exemption for starts teaching during this time, you must attend the classes and complete any elements of assessment until you are notified of the outcome of your RPL claim.
You will receive a letter from the University telling you whether or not your RPL claim has been approved. At the same time you may also receive a request for feedback about the process. Please complete the feedback request as this will allow the University to review the process and make future changes that may help you and your peers.
If your RPL claim is approved, the transcript you receive at the end of the academic year/programme will indicate which Manchester Met unit(s) you have been exempted from. At the end of your course, your degree classification will be calculated using only the units that you have undertaken at Manchester Met. Any marks you received from other institutions for your previous learning will not be taken in to account.