Register as a Student
Whether you’re a new or returning student, you will need to complete student registration at the start of each academic year. This includes if you’re taking a placement or study abroad year as part of your programme.
How to register
Registration enables you to confirm your student and course details and your arrangements for paying your tuition fees. You also have the option to be included on the Electoral Register, to enable you to register to vote. For details on how to register as a student, see our Student Portal webpages
You will need to accept our terms and conditions and confirm that your student details are correct on the Student Portal before you can complete your registration.
Please remember to keep your personal details up to date during your studies via the Student Portal, particularly your term time address and your trusted contacts.
If you are not able to complete your registration via the Student Portal, please contact student-registration@ncl.ac.uk
Student loan
For returning students, if you have applied for a student loan, scanning your smartcard at a designated scanning station confirms your attendance, which then triggers the release of your student loan following the start of term. You must also complete your online registration via the Student Portal. You will usually receive the money into your bank account within four working days, however, loans will only be released if you have already been fully assessed by the Student Loan Company and received documentation from them confirming this.
For new students, if you have applied for a student loan collecting your smartcard will confirm your attendance to trigger the release of your loan.
If you will be away from the University on a placement or study abroad year as an official part of your degree programme, please ensure you notify the Student Loan Company of this. You do not need to scan your smartcard to confirm your attendance if you are on a placement or study abroad year, as long as you have completed your online registration via the Student Portal your student loan will be released to you.
If your student loan has not appeared in your bank account five working days after you complete your online registration and collect or scan your smartcard, please contact tuition-fees@ncl.ac.uk
International students
If you’re a returning international student, we don’t need to check your immigration documents at the start of the new academic year unless you have recently renewed your passport or visa, or these documents are due to expire soon. If so, we will contact you by email or you will see a message in the Student Portal.
If you have a visa application pending with the Home Office at the time of registration, please ensure that you can provide evidence of this.
The University reserves the right to make enquiries regarding the process of any pending applications with the Home Office, to ensure that they have been made in-time and that they are valid. If it is established that you have overstayed your previous visa, or that your application is likely to fall for refusal, your registration may be at risk. If requested to do so, please follow the steps detailed on Student Welcome webpages for Confirming your Identity
Returning student attendance confirmation
Returning students are required to scan their smartcard on campus to confirm their attendance at a designated scanning station and complete registration (unless you are on a placement or study abroad year).
You can scan your smartcard at a designated station at any of the following locations:
- Great North House - Student Services
- Walton Library
- Medical School Undergraduate Office
- Philip Robinson Library
- Old Library Building Cluster
- Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms
* Please note Library entrance gates or room scanners are not attendance confirmation scanning stations. Swiping your card at a building entrance or at a SAMs scanner will not confirm your attendance for this purpose. This must be done at a designated scanning station.
Smartcard
Your smartcard includes:
- a photograph
- brief details including your name, unique student number and library number
It also confirms your student registration and identity.
To enable us to produce a smartcard for you we need you to first upload a photograph of yourself via the Student Portal. Complete your online registration and then follow the instructions in the ‘Final Registration’ section.
Smartcard collection 2024/25
To collect a smartcard please visit:
- Level 1 Great North House - Student Services
- Philip Robinson Library
Your student details
The University needs to keep certain information about its students.
Some of this information is required for statistical purposes and other information is necessary for ensuring your student documents such as transcripts and degree parchments are correct.
The information below covers what is held by us in accordance with the Data Protection Act. As part of the terms and conditions of being a student, you must update your details as soon as they change. You will need to confirm each academic year that the details we have for you are correct. You can check and update your details at any time by using the Student Portal.
Disability, ethnicity, marital status
The information will be held and used in accordance with the University’s data collection notice.
The options available for these fields on the Student Portal are determined by a government statistical agency called the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
We encourage you to provide us with all of this information, but if you feel uncomfortable providing any of it you are able to refuse the information. There is a 'prefer not to say' option available in the Student Portal.
Contact details, personal e-mail, mobile number, home address, term address, trusted contact etc.
Please provide us with all of this information in full, including post codes. It’s very important that the University has up-to-date and accurate contact details for you. In the event of an emergency, it’s critical that the University can contact you or your family. Find further information about what a trusted contact is and how we use this information on our Student Health and Wellbeing Webpages.
You can use the My Information screen in the Student Portal to keep this information up-to-date throughout your studies – e.g. if you move house during the year or your trusted contact details have changed.
First name(s), last name, date of birth, nationality
As this information has to be correct and match your identification documents, you cannot change it online.
If this information is not correct, you can request to change your date of birth, name, gender or nationality via the My Information screen in the Student Portal. Depending on the type of change you are requesting you may be asked to submit evidence e.g. a form of photographic identity like a passport. The evidence required will be explained to you in the Student Portal when you raise your change request. Your request will be reviewed by the Student Data Team in the Student Progress Service who will either update your record and confirm the change has been made or contact you if they require any further information.
Do not use your nickname as your First Name or Last Name. These must match your legal name, i.e. the name in your passport or other government documents, because this will be the name that appears on pass lists, degree parchments and official University documents and you may not be able to change it later.
It’s important that the University is able to confirm who you are. We may need to ask to see your passport or other official documents before we make the changes.
Known as
If you do have a nickname or an English name in addition to your official name, you can use the ‘Known As’ field.