By Ailean Beaton

Edinburgh University has reassured students that graduations will go ahead after it was claimed there had been a 'breach of systems'.

The university has opened an investigation after an email was sent out to fourth year graduate students informing them they would not be able to graduate this year. 

Students also reported that the status of 'No Award' was displayed on the "Progression Status" page on the student portal.

An Edinburgh University spokersperson said: “Our preliminary investigation suggests that these emails were regrettably issued as a result of a system error.

There was no breach of our systems and no student data was compromised. The University has written to all students affected to reassure them that their graduations have not been cancelled and asking them to ignore the emails.”

Reports of a security breach circulated on social media this morning as students began tweeting the university's Twitter account inquiring after receiving an email from "University_Of_Edinburgh". 

The email advised students that they would "not be expected to complete (their) studies until later in the year” and as such were uninvited from graduation ceremonies.

Some students expressed dismay as the official statement on their student portal appears to confirm what was in the email.

Edinburgh University’s Twitter account posted: “We can reassure you that no graduations have been canceled. Please ignore a recent email that we are urgently investigating.”