51Âþ»­

Letters and documents

When starting at university, students are often asked to provide letters confirming their registration at 51Âþ»­ for various purposes. The most common letters are available through My51Âþ»­, in the MyDocuments tile. You can access these letters 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without needing to queue or call.

Self-service letters

The letters available online are:

  • Bank letter: These are available to help you open a student bank account.
  • Council tax letter: You will need to provide this to your local council to confirm your status as a student when applying for council tax exemption.
  • Proof of student status letter: Confirmation of your status as a student including whether you are studying full or part-time, the name of your programme, when you registered and are expected to complete your studies.
  • Proof of student status letter (with address): This is the same as the status letter, but includes the permanent and term time addresses we have on record for you.

Letters available on request

Some letters aren't available online, but can be produced for you by our team.

  • Status letter with confirmation of optional placement: We can produce a letter which confirms that the programme you are studying has an optional placement.  Note this can take longer to produce whilst we gather further information from your Faculty.  To request this you can visit us in the Student Gateway, email us at studentgateway@dmu.ac.uk or call us on 0116 257 7595.
  • Work letter: If you are an international student and require a letter for work purposes, please contact studentgateway@dmu.ac.uk.
  • Bank letters for 51Âþ»­ International College students: If you are an international student who has commenced study with 51Âþ»­ International College before going on to complete their main 51Âþ»­ programme, and require a letter of introduction to pen a student bank account.  Please contact Education Partnerships to obtain this letter by email at ep@dmu.ac.uk.

If you require a letter confirming information that is not included above, please come to see us in the Student Gateway. You can visit us in person on the ground floor of Gateway House, call us on 0116 257 7595, or email us at studentgateway@dmu.ac.uk for advice.  Please note that it is not always possible to meet the request within the Student Gateway; if it is not possible to complete your request, you will be advised by the team of how to proceed.

Council tax exemption certificates

Full-time students are eligible to claim exemption from council tax from their local council. Local councils require a certificate as evidence of student status before they can grant exemption to you.

If you are a full-time student that lives in Leicester and Leicestershire, we will share a report with the Local Authority of the address you have provided, so you should not require a letter. 

If you would like to check your address is up to date, please visit the 'Personal Information' tile on My51Âþ»­. You can update your address on the 'Personal Information' tile if necessary.

There is no need to visit the Student Gateway to collect a council tax exemption certificate. If you still wish to obtain a letter, please log onto My51Âþ»­ and select the ‘My Documents’ tile. Here you will be able to download and print the letter. 

Guide on using My51Âþ»­ to download letters 

If you are studying at an associate college please contact the student support office at your college.

Student records

Certified Copies

To apply for a certified true copy of your certificate or transcript, a copy of the original should be sent to the following email address with a covering note, your P number or Student ID (if applicable), and your contact details. Email this to us at studentrecords@dmu.ac.uk.

There will be a charge of £5 per copy for this service; you can make a payment on the . You will need to quote your receipt number in your correspondence so that we can match up your payment with your request.

Reference requests

If you would like to request verification of a student’s details, then please note that the university now subscribes to the . All verification requests should be made using this service. Please note that we no longer deal with verification requests directly.

Replacement certificates

Certificates are usually presented during your graduation ceremony. Graduates who do not attend will have their certificate posted to them by recorded delivery within eight weeks of the ceremonies. Intermediate certificates awarded during the year are posted out at regular intervals. 

If you do not receive your certificate please contact the graduation team by email at academicawards@dmu.ac.uk stating your name, P number or Student ID, date of birth, year of completion and course. Alternatively, you can contact us by phone on +44 (0)116) 2577307.

Graduates who still have an outstanding debt with the university will not receive their certificate until such time as their debt has been cleared. 

  1. September 1992 onwards

    A duplicate certificate will be issued only at the discretion of the university if the original has been lost or defaced or destroyed. Each request will be dealt with on an individual basis.

    Replacement certificates cost £35 and can be .

    Once your order has been received, a declaration form will be sent to you for your signature. This must be witnessed by a solicitor before you return it to us. A replacement certificate will then be produced and sent to you by recorded delivery. You should note that duplicate certificate can take up to eight weeks to be issued depending on the time of year. If for any reason we are not able to produce a certificate, the fee will be refunded.

    It should be noted that changes cannot routinely be made retrospectively e.g. you cannot have your award certificate re-issued in your maiden name following a divorce, marriage or change of name after you have finished your course at 51Âþ»­. However, a transgender student may ask for a degree or diploma certificate to be reissued in their new name (see our policy on name changes for more information).

    Please note that cancellation of a replacement certificate order once placed will incur a £10 cancellation and administration fee.

  2. Pre-September 1992

    As 51Âþ»­ did not have a license to produce its own certificates prior to September 1992, awards gained before this year were produced by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA).

    The Open University now offers a pro-forma verification document, styled in a similar format to an award certificate, but indicating that this is an extract from the CNAA records.

    Application forms can be obtained from via the CNAA aftercare partnership. Contact them by phone on 01908 332852, or by email at ouvp-aftercare@open.ac.uk.

    Edexcel certificates (post-1994)

    51Âþ»­ can only supply duplicate Edexcel certificates from 1994 onwards. Applicants should contact the university in writing at:

    Academic Awards
    Gateway House
    51Âþ»­
    LE1 9BH
    UK

    This excludes the diploma of Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. In this case, please contact .

    Please include the following information:

    • Full name while studying at 51Âþ»­
    • Course and award gained
    • Year of award
    • Date of birth
    • Student number (if known)
    • Edexcel certificates (pre-1994)

    To apply for a replacement Edexcel certificates prior to 1994 please visit .

    Certified copies and confirmation of awards letters

    To apply for a certified true copy of your certificate or transcript, a copy of the original should be sent to the following address with a covering note and your contact details:

    Student Records
    Gateway House
    51Âþ»­
    LE1 9BH
    UK

    The same address can be used to request a letter confirming your award.

    To contact the Student Records team, email studentrecords@dmu.ac.uk.