Online GRS2 FAQs for PGRs

List of PGR Administrators (PDF - 420KB)

You can access your GRS2 forms via the Student Gateway. As a PGR student, you can access the Student Gateway on- or off-campus.

You will need to login using your University email and password (similar to logging into the intranet).

Once logged into the Student Gateway, you should see and pick the link 'PGR Monthly Supervision - GRS2'.

If you have any difficulties accessing the Student Gateway, you should first check if you can login to other services that use the same type of login (Azure), such as the University intranet or MyUoB mobile app. If you cannot login to any of these services, your problem may be a wider issue with your University account.

If you can login to the Student Gateway okay, but then have an issue opening your GRS2 forms, there may be an issue with your account specific to PGR supervision, such as not being correctly linked to your supervisor.

In ether case, you will need to contact the IT Help Desk for further help. You can contact the IT Helpdesk by phone on 0121 414 7171 or log an online call. Please give details about exactly where you are having issues.

If you have not been able to make contact with your supervisor you should contact your School PGR Administrator. 

• List of PGR Administrators (PDF - 206KB)

Supervision meetings for part time PGRs should take place every two months.  There is a section in  the Supervisor’s Part B of the on the online GRS2 form for part time PGRs as follows “The below check box should only be ticked if the PGR is part time and is not due a supervision meeting the following month.”  If the tick box is ticked, the scheduled reminder e-mails will not be sent to you and your supervisor in the next month and will resume in the following month. For example, if the tick box is ticked in February to indicate a meeting will not take place in March, the reminder e-mails will not be sent out for the March online GRS2 form but will resume in April.

Although the reminder e-mails are supressed, the online GRS2 form is still available for completion should a meeting take place.

If the make-up of the supervisory team has changed, you should contact your School PGR Administrator to ask that the names of your supervisors are updated.

• List of PGR Administrators (PDF - 206KB)

The date of the supervision meeting is entered by your supervisor when completing Part B of the online GRS2 form, by selecting a date from the calendar.  They can only select a date from the current month.

A leave of absence is a break in studies where you are not working on your research.  Therefore a GRS2 form is not required and the online GRS2 form will not be available for completion for the duration of the LOA. Neither you nor your supervisor will receive reminder emails to complete the GRS2 form. 

You should complete Part A of the online GRS2 form to summarise the email discussion you have had with your supervisor.  Your supervisor will then complete Part B and select the supervision category “PGR - supervision contact email” from the list under "There has been no supervision meeting but one of the following types of contact has taken place".

For the online GRS2 form to be active, your registration status must be either normally registered (NR) or thesis awaited (T).  The registration status is shown in the first section of the online GRS2 form.  If your registration status is provisionally registered (AS) or expected to re-register (ER), you must complete on-line registration via the online registration pages order to activate the online GRS2 form.

The online GRS2 form will not be active if you are on leave of absence.

The online GRS2 form will become active once your start date has been reached and your registration status is normally registered (NR). For the online GRS2 form to be active you must have been reached your start date and you must complete online registration via the online registration pages.

The Code of Practice for Supervision & Monitoring Progress states:

“Progress of PGRs in thesis awaited status must continue to be monitored to the completion of the degree. For PGRs in thesis awaited status supervisors should maintain monthly contact with the PGR to monitor progress of the thesis against the PGR’s deadline for submission, submission of a corrected thesis or resubmission for re-examination via completion of an online GRS2 monthly supervision record form. The lead and/or co-supervisor(s) and the PGR should confirm that the record contains a summary of the progress of writing the thesis. All GRS2 records should be completed online and stored electronically and accessible by the supervisors, PGR and relevant staff within the PAU”.

Therefore the online GRS2 form should be completed each month until the completion of your studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you have submitted your corrected thesis stating the date you submitted the corrected thesis.  Your supervisor should add a comment in Part B to confirm this and then select “PGR – Submission of minor corrections” or “PGR – Submission of major corrections” from the list under “If there has been no supervision but one of the following types of contact has taken place…”. 

The Code of Practice for Supervision & Monitoring Progress states:

“Progress of PGRs in thesis awaited status must continue to be monitored to the completion of the degree. For PGRs in thesis awaited status supervisors should maintain monthly contact with the PGR to monitor progress of the thesis against the PGR’s deadline for submission, submission of a corrected thesis or resubmission for re-examination via completion of an online GRS2 monthly supervision record form. The lead and/or co-supervisor(s) and the PGR should confirm that the record contains a summary of the progress of writing the thesis. All GRS2 records should be completed online and stored electronically and accessible by the supervisors, PGR and relevant staff within the PAU”.

Therefore the online GRS2 form should be completed each month until the completion of your research degree studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you have submitted the thesis for examination stating the date of submission.  Your supervisor will add a comment in Part B to confirm this and then select “PGR – Thesis submitted” from the list under “If there has been no supervision but one of the following types of contact has taken place…”

The online GRS2 form should be completed each month until the completion of studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you are attending a progress review meeting (stating the date) and your supervisor will add a comment in Part B to confirm this and then select “PGR – Progress Review” from the list under “If there has been no supervision but one of the following types of contact has taken place”. 

The online GRS2 form should be completed each month until the completion of studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you are attending a progress review meeting (stating the date) and your supervisor will add a comment in Part B to confirm this and then select “PGR – Progress Review Panel” from the list under “If there has been no supervision but one of the following types of contact has taken place”. 

The online GRS2 form should be completed each month until the completion of studies. You should complete Part A of the form to advise that you are attending a progress review meeting (stating the date) and your supervisor will add a comment in Part B to confirm this and then select “PGR – Viva” from the list under “If there has been no supervision but one of the following types of contact has taken place".

Supervision meetings should take place monthly for full-time PGRs, pro rata for part-time PGRs. Where you are working away from the University supervision contact may be by way of a Skype meeting or by email. The online GRS2 form should be completed each month for the duration of the period of time that the PGR is working away from the University.

Where the contact is via email, you should complete Part A of the form to advise that you have been in email contact with you supervisor as you are working away from the University and you should include details of the work you have undertaken whilst away from the University. Your supervisor should add a comment in Part B of the GRS2 form and then should select “PGR – Supervision contact email” from the list under “If there has been no supervision but one of the following types of contact has taken place”.

It is possible to enter text up to a maximum of 4,000 characters.

You can log out of the GRS2 forms by logging out of the student gateway page - click on your username in the top right hand side of your screen in the gateway page and then click the 'Sign Out' button that drops down.

Some programmes are exempt from completing the monthly GRS2 form.  For example where the first year of the programme is totally made up of taught modules and supervision meetings therefore do not take place, or for some Research Council funded study where different arrangements are in place as part of the funding agreement. If you are exempt from completing the GRS2 form you will not receive email advising you to complete the form.

If you have any queries as to whether you are exempt form completion of the online GRS2 form, please contact your local PGR Administrator.

• List of PGR Administrators (PDF - 206KB)