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Postgraduate Course Proposals

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

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), with the Expression of Interest Form attached, to arrange to discuss the proposed programme.

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For additional information on the Inclusive Curriculum Project, which might be useful when developing your course proposal, visit the Trinity-INC Project webpage.

Programme 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.

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Timeline of Approval Process

Postgraduate Course Proposal Timeline of Approval Process

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



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Submission Dates for 2023/24

Submission dates agreed by GSC in 2023/24 for GSC consideration of course proposals in 2023/24 are as follows:

GSC 12 October 2023

Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 21 September 2023)

Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 31 June 2023 (at least 15 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 20 July 2023 (12 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 7 September 2023 (5 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • GSC 9 November 2023

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 19 October 2023)

    Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 17 August 2023 (at least 12 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 14 September 2023 (8 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 5 October 2023 (5 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • GSC 25 January 2024

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 5 January 2024)

    Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 5 October 2023 (at least 16 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 2 November 2023 (12 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 14 December 2023 (6 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • GSC 22 February 2024

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 2 February 2024)

    Development of course proposal - timeline:

  • • 9 November 2023 (at least 15 weeks before GSC) – initial contact with Academic Affairs
  • • 14 December 2023 (10 weeks before GSC) – 1st draft submitted to Academic Affairs
  • • 25 January 2024 (4 weeks before GSC) – changes made as necessary

    • As a new process is being introduced for proposed new courses in January 2024 any course proposals initiated in January 2024 will fall under the new process and may be considered at the April meeting of GSC. Submission timelines for the GSC meeting in April 2024 for course proposals falling under the new process will be published in due course. If a draft course proposal has been presented to Academic Affairs for review prior to January 2024 it can be considered at the April meeting in certain circumstances.

    GSC 25 April 2024 (exceptional circumstances)

    Submission of final draft of course proposal to Academic Affairs (3 weeks prior to GSC meeting – 4 April 2023)


    The document presented to GSC can be accessed here.

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