The following message is for Student Route visa holders only:

Dear Student, 

As you may be aware from the most recent Graduate School Director’s briefing, the Academic Engagement and Attendance Policy has recently changed. These changes were made in recognition of the changing research environment and in response to feedback from our community of international students. 

All PGR students are affected by these changes but there are also some aspects which will impact you specifically as a Student Route visa holder; these are highlighted below. 

What is changing? 

For all PGR students 

• Although it is recommended that full-time PGRs attend campus at least twice a week, it is no longer required. 

• Full-time students must attend a minimum of 12 face-to-face events on campus each academic year, at least 10 of which must be supervision meetings.  

• All students and supervisors are now required to log formal supervision meetings on PGR Manager. 

For Student Route visa holders 

• You will not be required to fill in the monthly monitoring form. However, you will need to upload the Supervision form for Student Route visa holders to Supervision meetings on PGR Manager, to confirm that your details are correct. 

• You will not be asked to check in with the Graduate School every time you re-enter the UK. 

What is not changing? 

For all students 

• Students will still need to attend campus as required by their research (e.g. laboratory work) and schools/faculties may host seminars, training, or other events that students are required to attend in person. 

For Student Route visa holders 

• We’ll still ask you to come and do an annual visa check. 

• Absence requests will still need to be approved by the Graduate School before you go away. Further information for this is held on the PGR Manager system. 

If you have any queries about these processes, please let me know. For any technical or PGR Manager specific queries, please contact [email protected].

Best regards,

Ellie Milnes-Smith on behalf of the Graduate School team