The Herts Excellence Award is an online careers and entreprise award at the University of Herts. All your questions answered here.
- How do I register for the Herts Excellence Award?
- I want to start my own business/become a freelancer/self-employed, is this Herts Excellence Award for me?
- Can I count my part-time job/volunteering?
- What qualifies as work-based experience?
- How do I submit evidence of my work-based experience and complete my activities?
- What are the development activities and how long do they take?
- What do I get for completing the Herts Excellence Award?
- I am an international student, can I still take part in the Herts Excellence Award?
- I'm an apprentice, can I do the Herts Excellence Award?
- How much experience do I need to gain to complete the award?
- I'm doing a practice placement, can I count this towards the Herts Excellence Award?
- How long does it take to complete the Herts Excellence Award?
- What is the final assessment?
- I did an internship/worked before I started university, can I use this as part of my work-based experience?
- Where can I find a part-time job, work-experience, or an internship to count towards my award?
- I've submitted my evidence how long will it take to be verified?
- I have submitted my evidence but can't access the next level, what do I do?
- When is the deadline for submitting my final assessment?
- I missed the last deadline when is the next one?
How do I register for the Herts Excellence Award
Go to https://careers.herts.ac.uk/
- Click Pathways or Herts Excellence Award button
- Select Herts Excellence Award - Registration pathway
- Complete 3 activities
- Answer registration questions
- Complete skills assessment
- Catch virtual workshop and answer checking questions
- Complete 3 activities
- Once you have completed the registration pathway you will get an email with a link to the main pathway and it will become visible on your pathways page (make sure you remove the filters on that page)
I want to start my own business/become a freelancer/self-employed, is the Herts Excellence Award for me?
Yes! We have designed the Herts Excellence Award to give you the tools you need to start your own business or become self-employed, and you can choose to complete development activities that are tailored to your enterprise goals.
Go to My Career Portal and complete the Herts Excellence Award - Registration Pathway and watch our virtual workshop to find out more
Can I count my part-time job/volunteering?
Yes! Your work-based experience can be made up of a combination of part-time work, formal volunteering, internship, self-sourced placement (excluding practice placements or those that count for degree credit), virtual internship, self-employment, or apprenticeship work.
What qualifies as work-based experience?
Work-based experience can be made up of a combination of part-time work, formal volunteering, internship, self-sourced placement (excluding practice placements or those that count for degree credit), virtual internship, self-employment, or apprenticeship work. You will need to complete 250 hours to obtain the Herts Excellence Award.
There is a minimum requirement of 50 hours for each experience you record, and you have to do at least 2 different experiences to make up your total of 250 hours. e.g:
- 200 hours from your part-time job and 50 from your virtual internship
- 100 hours summer internship, 75 volunteering role, 75 part-time job
Experiences must have been completed during your enrolment at University of Hertfordshire, or during the six months prior to your start date.
You will need to provide a named reference, who may be contacted to verify the details of what you have logged.
How do I submit evidence of my work-based experience and complete my activities?
- Go to the Main Herts Award Pathway on https://careers.herts.ac.uk/
- This will only be visible once you have completed registration. If you think you should be able to see it and can't, please get in touch.
- When you start the pathway you will see that the first four levels are open - this is so that you can complete the award at your own pace, and do the activities/log your experience in an order that suits you!
- We suggest doing the Getting started activities first, as this will prepare you to apply for work-based experience opportunities.
- Start recording your experience in the time log as soon as possible. All the details of the evidence you need to submit are outlined in the activity. Once you have logged 250 hours the team will verify your evidence.
- Record your skills statements on the skills statement page as you gain experience - this will help you when you come to do your final assessment.
- Once you have completed the first four levels and had your experiences verified the next stage of the award will unlock. Simply complete these levels in order and you'll have everything you need to submit your final assessment. **Remember your submission will not be marked until the next marking window, so make sure you upload it in time to have it marked before you graduate!
- Once you have submitted your video, poster or presentation and we have marked it we will contact you to let you know if you have completed the award.
- Feedback: If you have passed - congratulations! We will be in touch with a link to your digital badge. If your submission hasn't met the requirements, don't panic. We will send you feedback on what you need to do to improve and you can resubmit. Everything you have done for the award so far is still recorded.
What are the development activities and how long do they take?
Development activities are actions that help you develop your enterprise and/or employment skills. Examples include a virtual interview, improving your LinkedIn profile, writing a career plan, or even putting together a business plan.
We've split these activities into two main types so you can focus on the ones that best suit you:
- Enterprise activities - we recommend completing these if you are wanting to start your own business or take a non-traditional route after graduation.
- Employment activities - activities to help you secure a graduate job role.
You will have to complete a mixture of shorter and longer activities that total up to approximately 20 hours.
What do I get for completing the Herts Excellence Award?
Once your final assessment has been marked and you have completed the Herts Excellence Award you will receive a digital badge and a certificate signed by the Vice Chancellor.
I am an international student, can I still take part in the Herts Excellence Award?
Yes you can, just make sure that any experience you are gaining is allowed within the terms of your visa. If you are unsure of any restrictions on your student visa please contact our international student support advice team
I am in my final year of my degree but I haven't registered for the Herts Excellence Award, can I complete it before I finish?
Yes. Any qualifying work-based experience you have gained during your enrolment at Herts can count towards the award, even if you were not registered for the Herts Excellence Award when you were doing it. As long as you do not graduate before the first marking window in Summer 2026 you should have time to complete it.
I'm an apprentice, can I do the Herts Excellence Award?
Yes! We really encourage our apprentice learners to complete the Herts Excellence Award. Please talk to your apprentice coach to find out more.
How much experience do I need to gain to complete the award?
We ask you to provide evidence of 250 hours of work-based experience, from a minimum of 2 different experiences. Each one you submit has to be at least 50 hours.
I'm doing a practice placement, can I count this towards the Herts Excellence Award?
No. Practice placements or placements embedded in your degree programme are not included in the list of qualifying experiences. We only verify experience that you source yourself and that isn't counted as part of your degree.
How long does it take to complete the Herts Excellence Award?
We suggest that you give yourself a minimum of one year to complete the award but the earlier you start, the more manageable it will be to balance your work experience with your studies. You can submit your assessment for marking at any point during your degree, you just have to complete the Herts Excellence Award BEFORE you graduate.
What is the final assessment?
To complete the Herts Excellence Award, you will be asked to submit a poster, video or presentation that answers the question: "What have you learned during this award and how will you put it into practice in your future career?” The assessment is designed to be reflective, and we give you all the guidance you need to succeed.
I did an internship/worked before I started university, can I use this as part of my work-based experience?
You can submit evidence for work-based experience gained up to 6 months before you started your degree programme. Experience gained before this point will not qualify for the Herts Excellence Award.
Where can I find a part-time job, work-experience, or an internship to count towards my award?
We have included everything you need to find work experience on the Herts Excellence Award pathway on My Careers Portal.
I've submitted my evidence how long will it take to be verified?
It can take up to 7 working days from the day you submit your final piece of evidence for your work-based experience to be verified by our team.
I have submitted my evidence but can't access the next level, what do I do?
If you have submitted your evidence within the last 7 working days then please be patient. One of the team is verifying your evidence. As long as it is all correct your will have access soon.
If it has been over 7 working days since you submitted your evidence please check your email to see if we need further information from you or your experience does not qualify. If you have had no contact from us then please email us at hertsexcellenceaward@herts.ac.uk and we will try and resolve it for you.
When is the deadline for submitting my final assessment?
There are two marking deadlines per term. You can submit your final assessment for any of these deadlines as long as they occur BEFORE you graduate. We advise you to submit it as early as possible so that if you do not meet requirements the first time you will have time to resubmit. All the deadlines are listed on our Herts Excellence Award - final assessment submission deadlines page.
I missed the last deadline, when is the next one?
Check our list of final assessment submission deadlines . There are always two opportunities to submit per term. If there are no more opportunities to submit before you graduate you will be not able to complete the Herts Excellence Award so please save the deadlines in your calendar.