There are five steps to earning the Bath Award.
Step 1: Register
To complete the award in 2026-27, you must register between 3 September 2026 and 12 February 2027.
If you don't complete the registration form between these dates, you won't be able to enter the award this year. As part of the registration process, you will choose four capabilities to work on and set personal goals for yourself.
Step 2: Log 50 hours of extra-curricular activity
Log 50 hours of student leadership, volunteering, or paid employment that has contributed to your community, university, climate advocacy, or employability.
All 50 hours must be logged before you submit your final reflection.
The Bath Award has been designed to recognise the effort of students who are completing roles and developing their employability alongside their studies.
Activity must have taken place since 1 September 2025, and you must have been a student at the University of Bath when you completed it.
Activities must fit one of these four criteria:
- developing your employability (this could be an internship, part-time employment, or working on campus as a Student Ambassador or other casual paid role)
- supporting the university (this includes acting as a Student Leader, Academic Rep, or any other non-credit-bearing role that contributes to the university community)
- contributing to your community (this can be volunteering in any capacity at any organisation that you don’t already work for)
- climate advocacy (this includes any activity that supports sustainability, such as participating in sustainability initiatives, campaigning, or working with organisations focused on climate action)
You can mix and match your hours. They do not all have to be in the same role. For example:
- Previous academic year - Micro Internship (35 hours).
- Current academic year - Academic Rep (10 hours).
- Current academic year - Student Ambassador (20 hours).
Your total activity logged will be 65 hours and this part of the award will be complete for you.
You can log any activities you have taken part in since 1 September 2025, as long as you were registered as a student at the University of Bath when you completed them and they are on the list of accepted activities:
You can’t log anything you have done prior to 1 September 2025, or while you were not enrolled at the University of Bath.
Step 3: Attend four Bath Award-endorsed workshops
You need to attend one Bath Award-endorsed workshop for each of your four chosen capabilities (four workshops in total).
The workshops are all available to book through Unihub.
All workshops will run at least once online, and we strongly suggest booking your place on your chosen workshops as early as you can. If you miss the workshops for one of your chosen capabilities, you will not be able to complete your final submission.
The main struggle I had with this section was predicting when I would be available for certain sessions, which would often result in workshops I was interested in becoming full before I could sign up. As a result, for the workshops, I recommend signing up to workshops you find interesting soon after they are released, even if they are months away, and trying to schedule your plans around it instead of trying to predict when you might be free.
Daniela, 3rd year Psychology student
After registering, you will receive a link to a list of available workshops for your chosen capabilities. You can use this to browse upcoming dates and book your place through Unihub.
All Bath Award-endorsed workshops:
- are open to all students at the university, including those studying remotely
- include active learning, they are not lectures
- last for a minimum of 30 minutes
- are delivered by a member of university staff
Step 4: Complete four pieces of professional development
Alongside your extra-curricular activities and the Bath Award-endorsed workshops, you must complete four pieces of professional development to earn the Bath Award. For each of your four chosen capabilities, you must complete one piece of professional development, which could be:
- online training through LinkedIn Learning; or
- listening to a podcast (at least 30 minutes long); or
- watching a video (at least 30 minutes long); or
- reading a long-form article
When you have registered for the award, you will receive links to recommended professional development content to help you find resources, but you are welcome to source your own if you have a particular topic or provider in mind.
All students at the university have a LinkedIn Learning account; you do not need to pay for a subscription or start a free trial. Please follow the guidance provided for creating your LinkedIn Learning account. If you require further help, please contact the Library team on Library@bath.ac.uk.
Step 5: Submit your final reflection
Once you have completed your extra-curricular activities and professional development, you will need to complete a written reflection (maximum 500 words) or video reflection (maximum five minutes) and submit it via the Submission Form by 1 May 2027.
You can only complete your award submission when you have logged 50 hours of activity, attended four Bath Award-endorsed workshops, and completed all four pieces of professional development. When you have entered everything into the Bath Award page in Unihub, the Submission Form will be available to complete.
Submissions can be done in writing (maximum 500 words) or via a video (maximum 5 minutes long). Whether you choose to write or record, you will need to tell us:
- how successfully you have met the goals you set when you registered for the award
- how you have developed your skills in your four chosen capabilities
- what you will do in future to further develop these capabilities
Read these examples of good reflective writing to help you write your final submission. You also have the option of joining a workshop to learn about reflective writing, meet other students who are completing the award, and get some help converting your experiences into a submission if you need it.
Every submission will be reviewed by a member of staff to ensure quality control and consistency.
The deadline for submissions is 1 May 2027. Submissions received after this deadline will not be considered.
What counts towards your 50 hours
| What you can count towards your 50 hours | What is excluded and cannot be counted towards your 50 hours |
|---|---|
| Chairing a society | Any activities you are required to take part in as part of your degree, even if they are not credit-bearing |
| Chairing a committee | Rotork Community Challenge |
| Being a sports coach or captaining a sports team | Sustainable Business Challenge |
| Giving your time for free to an organisation that doesn’t already have access to your skills and expertise (for example, listening to children read at a local school or spending time at a local foodbank), including hours done within the Gold Scholar Programme | The Big Team Challenge |
|
Future Business Challenge |
| Taking part in a Micro Internship, Languages Insights internship, or summer internship | MSc Consulting Project |
| A part-time job, e.g. working as a barista | Attending societies |
| Individually organised internships, both paid and unpaid | Attending committee meetings |
| Climate Fresc facilitation | Attending a Climate Fresc |
| Working on a casual basis on campus (e.g. as a Teaching Assistant or as a Student Ambassador) | Completing additional tasks (e.g. organising a team event or parties) for an organisation you are undertaking a placement at |
| Volunteering or working in a paid capacity at an event or conference | Attending a Language Café, unless it was volunteering to help run the event |
| A student leadership role at a conference (e.g. chairing the event) | Being a member of a society (that isn’t a leadership role) |
| Online, unpaid work experience and job simulations | Placement year / year in industry / study abroad year |
| Attending conferences, workshops, or events | |
| If you are a PhD student, volunteering hours to students of your supervisor |