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Academic Affairs, Trinity Teaching and Learning

Postgraduate Education

Academic Affairs supports the development of academic policy, regulations and standards for graduate education, provides guidance and information on the development of new postgraduate course proposals and national/transnational collaborative programmes and awards, and provides support to the Dean of Graduate Studies on policy development, strategic initiatives and on the management of the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC).

Academic Affairs, in delivering its remit, works closely with the Graduate Studies Office

Information on Assessment Contingency Measures approved by Council is available from the Return to Campus webpage.

Postgraduate Course Proposals

Postgraduate Course Proposal Timeline of Approval Process

Schools/disciplines considering developing a new programme should contact Ewa Sadowska in Academic Affairs (esdowska@tcd.ie) (with a copy sent to pgcourseproposals@tcd.ie) in the first instance to discuss the proposed programme and fill out the Expression of Interest Form New Course Proposal for Consideration by GSC 2022/23

Academic Affairs will provide guidance, support and information on the development of the course proposal, including access to the relevant course proposal template.

The following timeline should be taken into consideration when developing a new course proposal.



Submission dates agreed by GSC in 2021/22 for GSC consideration of course proposals in 2022/23 are as follows:

GSC 13 October 2022

Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 22 September 2022)

Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 27 June 2022 (at least 15 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 20 July 2022 (12 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 8 September 2022 (5 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • GSC 10 November 2022

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 20 October 2022)

    Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 18 August 2022 (at least 12 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 15 September 2022 (8 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 6 October 2022 (5 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • GSC 26 January 2023

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 5 January 2023)

    Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 6 October 2022 (at least 16 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 3 November 2022 (12 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 12 December 2022 (6 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • GSC 23 February 2023

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 2 February 2023)

    Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 10 November 2022 (at least 15 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 16 December 2022 (10 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 26 January 2023 (4 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • GSC 27 April 2023

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 6 April 2023)

    Note: in the event that the proposed course is to be delivered in September 2023 the course proposal will have been submitted by the end of the Michaelmas term. The timelines presented below apply to courses that are expected to commence in 2024).

    Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 2 February 2023 (at least 12 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 2 March 2023 (8 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 23 March 2023 (5 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • The document presented to GSC can be accessed here.

    Postgraduate Course Proposal Approval Process

    The main stages of the course proposal process are captured in the graphic below. All new course proposals must be approved by the School Executive Committee and the Faculty Dean before being presented to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) for consideration.


    • A more detailed version of the stages outlining the development and approval of a new postgraduate course proposal is available here.

    • Forms for changing a postgraduate course title and start date is available here.

    • See below for more resources to aid your course proposal development.

    Resources to Support the development of your proposal

  • Click here for more resourses to support the development of your postgraduate proposal.