Frequently asked questions

The Dean's List is open to final year undergraduate students and final year postgraduate taught students at Sheffield University Management School.

This includes dual degrees in Business Management for Japanese Studies, Economics and Maths. Your home department MUST be the Management School, irrespective of equal course weightings e.g. 50-50. Postgraduate research students are not currently eligible to apply for the award.

The Dean's List Pathway Challenges enable all undergraduates to get involved in learning about the criteria and how it relates to the Management School's Mission and Vision.

First year undergraduates are encouraged to undertake the Level 1 Pathway Challenge, and second year students the Level 2 Challenge. These will help students become familiar with the entry requirements, start to think more deeply about their career prospects post-university and understand how expanding experience and skills relates to employability - and the Dean's List award.

Completing the Pathway Challenges will help you develop the skills, experience and behaviours that are befitting of previous winners. It is a good way of finding out what constitutes appropriate supporting evidence. 

Whilst the Pathway Challenges are not graded, all applicants will be offered the opportunity to receive personalised feedback from the panel and/or the Dean's List administration team. The best entry at each level will win a prize.

Participation in the pathway to Dean's List is entirely voluntary.  You can still enter the final year undergraduate or postgraduate awards without having completed one or both of the Level 1-2 Challenges.

All deadlines for applications and entries to the Dean's List Awards and Pathway Challenges can be found on the How to apply page (linked here).

• A personal reference from the Dean.
• Name-engraved trophy plaque.
• Kudos of being among elite students from the School.
• Recognition of academics, peers and parents/guardians.
• Invite to a special awards event prior to graduation.

You can submit up to 10 attachments with your online application. These should only evidence Employable Students and Socially Responsible criteria - we do not require any evidence of your academic achievements from your University of Sheffield programme.

Evidence should always be easy to read and clear as to which criteria it evidences (use appropriate filenames). However, it may not be necessary to submit multiple documents; the quality of the supporting evidence is more important than the quantity. You may include more than one piece of evidence in each attachment.

For undergraduates in their final year and for postgraduate taught students, there are 3 areas that are used in our shortlisting:

Academic scores need to be 65% or above in your final degree mark. These will be taken from your student record (no evidence required).  This is irrespective of other personal or professional achievements across the remaining criteria.

You need to evidence both Social Responsibility and Employability criteria in your application. Supporting evidence is required for both (see undergraduate factsheet and postgraduate factsheet).

The judging panel will decide the awards based on the comparative quality of the applications but also the strict undergraduate shortlisting criteria or postgraduate shortlisting criteria.

Reference(s) from organisations you have been involved with e.g. letter-headed paper or email from a business, organisation, charity, personal referee (authentication checked). Testimonials from those that you have helped. Media coverage of your work published by a third party e.g. a feature in a newspaper. Secured placement/internship. Reference from placement/internship employer.

Launched on 5 February 2018, the consultation involved current students, senior academic staff, the Advisory Board and affiliations from our Business networks. Following the successful launch, the award was given the go-ahead to be rolled out across the Management Schools in different iterations.

The Dean's List aims to reward students that have made extraordinary contributions to the Management School’s Mission during their studies. We hope the award inspires current students to aim high and develop additional skills that are embodied in the Mission and Vision. Furthermore, we want new students, or those approaching their mid-point of studies, to understand how the behaviours and attributes of The Dean's List are closely related to career progression and future success.

Following the deadlines, a panel made up of the Dean, the Associate Dean for Education, the Head of External Engagement and one other academic staff member will meet to assess applications. All applicants will be contacted with the outcome within one week of the final degree classifications being published.

We will not be able to provide detailed feedback on individual award applications and the panel's decision will be final.

Traditionally, a Dean's List notation tends to focus solely on academic achievement. The Management School has decided that academic performance should be a core element of the qualifying criteria but, in addition, to include values that are intrinsic to our Mission and Vision. It is hoped that this will broaden the scope and eligibility of potential applicants by ensuring a richer application pool in the process.

The Dean's List elevates winners to an elite group of star ambassadors.  We welcome you to become an active part of our alumni community by volunteering as a SUMS Alumni Ambassador for our exclusive online platform join-sumsalumni.com.

The Management School is closely involved with alumni. Winners of The Dean's List can help to influence and engage current and prospective students, through our Advisory Board, and gain access to our business networks. For example, you might be asked to attend strategic meetings, be on an Advisory Board or speak at one of our Northern or London Alumni Network reunions.