Making meaningful (and compliant) in-cycle changes to the postgraduate degree finder
Back in October, we went live with the 2026 entry edition of the postgraduate degree finder.
Now we’re past the postgraduate editing window, named School editors can still make changes to improve or amend content, but it is important to understand our CMA obligations when doing this.
The top reasons we see for making changes to PG degree finder programmes are:
- factual changes (such as updating a programme director in the contact section)
- clarifying any unclear pieces of content (providing more context if needed)
- adding school specific events (remembering to schedule their removal after the event has ended)
- Updating featured funding information
Most of the top reasons we see for making changes require a sentence to explain what has changed, which can be found at the bottom of a programme page.
Any material changes to a programme will require further action, and applicants will need to be made aware of changes first.
School editors cannot directly propose changes to undergraduate programmes in the same way. To make an in-cycle change to undergraduate programmes, please contact the Prospective Student Web team: cam-student-content@ed.ac.uk.
Who can make changes to the degree finder?
Only named school and college editors can propose in-cycle changes to their postgraduate degree finder programme pages.
These editors are often (but not always) marketing and communications staff within the School who have strong connections to the subject matter experts for each programme. They attend training sessions in order to get and maintain access to the degree finder, and are the primary channel for change requests from other appropriate stakeholders in the School.
Not everyone can have direct access to the degree finder – if you notice something that needs changing and you are not an editor, talk to your local designated School editor in the first instance. If you don’t know who that is, contact the Prospective Student Web Team.
User permissions for the degree finder CMS (staff access required)
Making changes to the postgraduate degree finder
Accessing the backend and proposing edits
This is still a common question we receive into our inbox, and it works in very much the same way as you made changes during the postgraduate editing cycle.
How to edit a programme page in the new degree finder: Step-by-step (staff access required)
When you first edit, you’ll create a new ‘In-cycle draft’ automatically. If you are waiting for some information, you can save and come back later to finish your edits before submitting.
What sections can you edit?
Editors can propose updates to most sections. We often see things like:
- Adding student testimonials
- Updating featured funding sections to highlight new scholarships
- Amending programme descriptions
All of these edits will be processed by the Prospective Student Web Team to ensure the edit complies with Competitions and Markets Authority guidance.
Some edits will be approved straight away; for example, additions that don’t affect the substantive content of a programme, like testimonials. Others will need to be considered more carefully, like extra costs, or if they ‘remove’ something from the programme, like changing modules, courses, or field trips.
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) considerations
We have a responsibility to ensure we publish complete, accurate and up-to-date information. This means we should notify prospective applicants when we know something is changing, and before we publish this more widely on degree finder.
Compliance with consumer law is not only important in giving students the protection required by the law, but also helps to maintain student confidence and the standards and reputation of our institution.
Honesty and accuracy is about to get even more important: An article by Jim Dickinson for Wonkhe
Many changes to the degree finder will require a line of explanation. However, major changes to the programme will only be approved if the School/College agrees to contact applicants first before we update the degree finder.
What sections can you not edit?
Not all sections which appear on the frontend will be available for School editors to edit. For example, you cannot directly edit entry requirements unless you are an Admissions team editor. If you require any changes to this field, please contact sra.adteam@ed.ac.uk and make sure to cc your College Admissions team.
Fees, degree programme tables (DPTs), and apply links come in automatically from Euclid, so if there’s a problem with one of these, you’ll need to contact Prospective Student Web, and we will investigate for you.
Reusable content is also managed by the Prospective Student Web and College editors. If you need to change something in one of these, let us know.
You can spot reusable content by looking for any content blocks you cannot edit which display as ‘Reusable paragraph’.
For most other fields, you can propose edits for us to review.
PG degree finder: What content can I edit?
Promoting school-specific events
School editors may want to promote school events through their programme pages.
If you want to promote an event, please contact the PSW team (cam-student-content@ed.ac.uk) and provide the following:
- event name
- quick summary of the event
- CTA link text
- URL
- confirmation of when the event is ending
Moving your edits up the workflow
When you’ve finished making your changes, you will need to submit them to Prospective Student Web to approve. This involves moving your programme up the workflow to signal that your programme is ready to be reviewed.
Before you submit your edit, it may be useful to save and view your edits in the ‘View’ mode to make sure your edits are displaying as expected, clicking on ‘Latest revision’.
When you’ve finished with your programme, use these steps to move your programme up the workflow:
- Save your programme at least once as an ‘In-cycle draft’
- Return to ‘Edit’ mode
- In the right-hand side bar, use the ‘Change to:’ drop-down menu
- Select ‘In-cycle review’
- Use the ‘Revision log message’ box above this to signpost the changes you have made
- Click ‘Save’ in the top right-hand corner
After you’ve submitted, the PSW team will review your changes and approve them if everything is ok. We will contact you directly if we cannot approve your edit before notifying applicants, or if we need to make more changes.
How to request an in-cycle change (staff access required)
Need more help?
If you need additional support or help while making your edits, we provide guidance documentation on our SharePoint.
Degree finder guidance (general)
Postgraduate degree finder guidance
If you have any questions or want to chat with us about your programme pages, particularly if you know of major changes coming in the future, please contact the Prospective Student Web team: cam-student-content@ed.ac.uk
