diff --git a/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_create_project.py b/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_create_project.py
index b6a94e00cb..d01220d7a7 100644
--- a/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_create_project.py
+++ b/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_create_project.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def default_metadata(self):
 
         metadata = {
             "__template_source__": self.ctx["template_git_url"],
-            "__template_ref__": self.ctx["branch"],
+            "__template_ref__": self.ctx["ref"],
             "__template_id__": self.ctx["identifier"],
             "__namespace__": self.ctx["project_namespace"],
             "__repository__": self.ctx["project_repository"],
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ def setup_new_project(self):
 
     def setup_template(self):
         """Reads template manifest."""
-        templates_source = fetch_templates_source(source=self.ctx["template_git_url"], reference=self.ctx["branch"])
+        templates_source = fetch_templates_source(source=self.ctx["template_git_url"], reference=self.ctx["ref"])
         identifier = self.ctx["identifier"]
         try:
             self.template = templates_source.get_template(id=identifier, reference=None)
diff --git a/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_read_manifest.py b/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_read_manifest.py
index 7a54e35c29..b3e374e4e7 100644
--- a/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_read_manifest.py
+++ b/renku/ui/service/controllers/templates_read_manifest.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ def template_manifest(self):
         """Reads template manifest."""
         from PIL import Image
 
-        templates_source = fetch_templates_source(source=self.ctx["template_git_url"], reference=self.ctx["branch"])
+        templates_source = fetch_templates_source(source=self.ctx["template_git_url"], reference=self.ctx["ref"])
         manifest = templates_source.manifest.get_raw_content()
 
         # NOTE: convert icons to base64
diff --git a/renku/ui/service/serializers/templates.py b/renku/ui/service/serializers/templates.py
index 28fc70ae0d..1154987ab3 100644
--- a/renku/ui/service/serializers/templates.py
+++ b/renku/ui/service/serializers/templates.py
@@ -35,16 +35,16 @@ class ManifestTemplatesRequest(Schema):
 
     template_git_url = fields.String(required=True, metadata={"description": "Template git repository url."})
     depth = fields.Integer(load_default=TEMPLATE_CLONE_DEPTH_DEFAULT)
-    branch = fields.String(load_default=None, metadata={"description": "Remote git branch (or tag or commit SHA)."})
+    ref = fields.String(load_default=None, metadata={"description": "Remote git branch (or tag or commit SHA)."})
 
     @pre_load
     def set_fields(self, data, **_):
-        """Set `branch` field from `ref` if present and set template url."""
-        if "ref" in data and not data.get("branch"):
+        """Set `ref` field from `branch` if present and set template url."""
+        if "branch" in data and not data.get("ref"):
             # Backward compatibility: branch and ref were both used. Let's keep branch as the exposed field
             # even if internally it gets converted to "ref" later.
-            data["branch"] = data["ref"]
-            del data["ref"]
+            data["ref"] = data["branch"]
+            del data["branch"]
         if "url" in data and not data.get("template_git_url"):
             # needed for tests that share a fixture
             data["template_git_url"] = data["url"]
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/templates.py b/tests/fixtures/templates.py
index b058d46fa5..45b594d022 100644
--- a/tests/fixtures/templates.py
+++ b/tests/fixtures/templates.py
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def template(template_metadata):
         "url": "https://github.com/SwissDataScienceCenter/renku-project-template",
         "id": "python-minimal",
         "index": 1,
-        "branch": "master",
+        "ref": "master",
         # TODO: Add template parameters here once parameters are added to the template.
         "metadata": {},
         "default_metadata": template_metadata,
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def project_init(template):
         "init_custom": [
             "init",
             "--template-ref",
-            template["branch"],
+            template["ref"],
             "--template-id",
             "python-minimal",
             data["test_project"],
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def project_init(template):
         "init_custom_template": (
             "https://gitlab.dev.renku.ch/renku-python-integration-tests/core-it-template-variable-test-project"
         ),
-        "remote": ["--template-source", template["url"], "--template-ref", template["branch"]],
+        "remote": ["--template-source", template["url"], "--template-ref", template["ref"]],
         "id": ["--template-id", template["id"]],
         "force": ["--force"],
         "parameters": ["--parameter", "p1=v1", "--parameter", "p2=v2"],
diff --git a/tests/service/controllers/test_templates_create_project.py b/tests/service/controllers/test_templates_create_project.py
index 9459a604a9..e3945fcfad 100644
--- a/tests/service/controllers/test_templates_create_project.py
+++ b/tests/service/controllers/test_templates_create_project.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def test_template_create_project_ctrl(ctrl_init, svc_client_templates_creation,
         "template_git_url",
         "project_name_stripped",
         "depth",
-        "branch",
+        "ref",
         "new_project_url_with_auth",
     }
     assert expected_context.issubset(set(ctrl.context.keys()))