ºÚÁ϶Å

Academic degrees

Academic degrees should be written in lowercase, including ‘bachelor of arts degree’ and ‘bachelor’s degree’.

Course titles should follow the format outlined below under the designated section. 

Academic titles

Access

When referring to the Access Office of the University and Access initiatives of the University please capitalise. When speaking about access in general lower case can be used.

Alumni

"Graduates" is preferred, as it avoids any confusion (see below) and uses more accessible language.

When speaking to current or prospective students, 'graduates' is generally better understood than 'alumni'.

Use lowercase in both instances. 

• Alumnus refers specifically to a singular male graduate.
• Alumni is the plural form for a group of either male-only graduates or a group of male and female graduates.
• Alumna is the singular form of a female graduate.
• Alumnae refers to a group of female-only graduates.

Buildings

When referring to buildings, the names should be capitalised, and the term ‘Building’ can be omitted on subsequent references.

See the full list of UL buildings for correct spellings. 

Campus

When referring to a specific campus, the term ‘campus’ should be capitalised, otherwise it should be in lowercase.

Example:
North Campus
There are lots of great facilities around the campus.

Cooperative education

Spelt as above, no hyphens between Co and operative. All references to Cooperative Education at UL should be spelt like this, including references to the Office and Division itself

Example:
Students are encouraged to make an appointment at the Cooperative Education and Careers Division at the University. 

Cooperative Education may be shortened to Co-op.

Course names/titles

The right way to write a course title is BA (Honours) History or BA (Hons) History. Note there is a space between BA and (Honours). 

Award abbreviations

Programme is not capitalised unless it is part of a full course title. 

Example:
Honours Degree Programme in Computer Science.
This programme covers units in software engineering.
 

Degree class 

First, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd. Never use 1st.

Use a capital when referring to a First, but lower case initial for first-class degree.

Never use first degree, as this can be confused with an undergraduate degree.

Examples:
She was awarded a First in biology
He was awarded a 2:1 in English
She was awarded a first-class degree in chemistry 

Department names 

Department has a capital D when it is part of the department’s title: 

Example:
Welcome to the Department of History at ºÚÁÏÉç. 

When referring to the department, use a lower-case d. 

Example:
The academic staff in the department are friendly and approachable. 

See the full list of departments in UL. 

Faculty

The word ‘faculty’ should be written in lowercase, and faculty titles should be written in Title Case.

See the full list of faculties in UL. 

Graduate

Lowercase, use instead of alumna/alumnus.

Graduate school 

When referring to the Graduate School at UL, capital G and S.

Honorary doctorates 

lower case

Institution 

Try not to use institution instead of university, as this can cause confusion. 

Office

The term ‘office’ should be capitalised when used as part of an official name but written in lowercase otherwise. 

Example:
Access Office

Postgraduate 

One word, not hyphenated. 

Programme

Programme is not capitalised unless it is part of a full programme title. 

Examples: 
Student Leadership Programme
This programme is open to students from any year 

School

When referring to a school, it should be capitalised when used as part of an official name or as an abbreviation for the official name but written in lowercase otherwise.

Examples:
Welcome to Kemmy Business School.
The school has an excellent record. 

If you use an acronym for your department or school, such as KBS, always make sure you also write it out in full the first time you use it in a text. 

See the full list of schools in UL. 

Semester

The term ‘semester’ should be written in lowercase.

Staff

The words ‘staff’, like ‘student’, should be written in lowercase.

Students’ union 

Note the apostrophe. 

ºÚÁÏÉç 

One word, not hyphenated, lower-case initial. 

University 

When you refer to ºÚÁÏÉç as the University use an initial capital. When referring to a university/any university use all lower case. 

ºÚÁÏÉç

Never use The ºÚÁÏÉç, just ºÚÁÏÉç or the University.

UL should be used after it has first been spelt out

Example: 
ºÚÁÏÉç (UL) was delighted to welcome the Munster Rugby team to the Arena. UL has long enjoyed a relationship with the team.