Timetable Build

The timetable for the next academic year is available online at the Timetables webpages in late summer.

This is the process, once the timetabling requirements spreadsheet is returned:

April to Mid-June: Updating of teaching requirements/ delivery based on the returned requirement spreadsheets to allow for modelling. 

Mid-June to Mid-August: Timetabling build, clash checking all requested changes, and new or returning courses for possible course clashes especially with compulsory courses.

Mid-August to Mid-September: Building the UG class timetable.

Master Timetable Publish Timelines:

• Lecture and seminar timetable (excluding classes) - published early-August.
• Timetable viewed by course code (including Classes) - published mid-September.
• Language Certificate class timetable - published mid-September

Collecting data: 

Phase 1: Course Information and Lecture and Seminar requirements
Timetabling requirement spreadsheets are sent to departments in early February and to be returned by departments to the Timetables team by 5pm on the last Friday of Winter Term (Week 11: 4th April 2025).

Note: Requests for changes to teaching delivery should be communicated as quickly as possible to the Timetables team so that they can assessed for viability and planned for in the timetable build.

We build the timetable for the school as a whole, so if you are late submitting your departmental spreadsheets, you put your department at a disadvantage.

 Phase 2: Undergradate class teaching requirements
The timetabling UG class teaching requirement spreadsheets are sent to departments in early May and should be submitted by departments to the Timetables team by 5pm on the 1st August 2025.

1. The standard teaching week: Monday to Friday 09.00-18.00.

2. Teaching for all students: Where possible we avoid lectures and single group teaching from 13.00 on Fridays due to religious observance.

3. Teaching for Undergraduate students: will not be scheduled after 12:00 on Wednesdays to allow for sports, volunteering and other extra curricular events, as agreed by LSE and LSESU.

4. Teaching for Undergraduate students (Class/seminar teaching): As UG teaching delivery has diversified in both size and duration over the years, we cannot guarantee that classes/seminars can be scheduled back to back, (consecutive hours) as this can create complex clashes for students. 

5. Teacher constraints: For timetabling purposes we assume that you are available (Monday to Friday 09.00-18.00) unless otherwise indicated on the constraints form.

6. Teacher constraints: Please only state hard constraints e.g. due to clashing work or caring commitments, not simply preferences not to teach on a particular day or time. This is to give us maximum flexibility when building the timetable.

7. Teacher constraints: Some departments/institutes have meetings or research seminars which members of the department should all be available to attend. If this applies to your department/institute, this time should be marked as unavailable on the constraints form.

The teacher availability/constraints form and additional information for 2025/26 can be found below.

Timetable teacher constraints form

If you need to provide Timetables with updated teacher availability/constraints after submission of the form please email Timetables directly at timetables@lse.ac.uk.

At Undergraduate level (UG), the Timetables teams centrally control the allocation of students to individual courses and how student get allocated to Class/seminar teaching. 

The following guide has been produced, by academic department representatives to support new staff to give you a better understanding/ overview of the process.

Staff guide for UG course selection on this page 

At Postgraduate level (PGT), academic departments control how individual courses are accessed and how students get allocated to seminar teaching using LFY screens. 

The following guide has been produced, by academic department representatives to support new staff in using these screens

Staff guide for PGT course selection on this page