Interruptions and Return to Study

On the 26th June, the 3 month interruption return to study window opens for students who are due back at the start of next year on the 26th September.

Once the RTS window opens, students will be able to log into their Portico account and indicate their intention to return, withdraw or apply for a further period of interruption. They must do this for their record to be re-opened (XE/Expected to Enrol status). Additionally, students requiring a welfare review as a condition of their return will need to complete this and indicate their intention before their record can be re-opened.  Please note, Student Records cannot manually re-open the records. It is essential that the following Return to Study process is followed, to ensure there are no delays to the automated re-opening of a student’s record following their interruption. 

Return to Study Process 

Students are contacted three months in advance of their return to study date (26 June for students returning 26 September) and are asked to respond to a questionnaire via Portico indicating their intention to either return to their studies, apply for a further period of interruption or withdraw from the course. For each option, the process is as follows: 

1) Student indicates their intention to return and does not require a welfare review with the Student Support and Wellbeing team. The department or faculty do not need to take any action. Once the student has indicated their intention to return, the record will be automatically updated to Expected to Enrol with a start date equal to the date of their return. The student will be sent information on when and how to re-enrol. 

If a visa is required, the student can submit a CAS request form to the Student Immigration Compliance Team once their status is Expected to Enrol. Please note that the Student Immigration Compliance Team will only be able to start processing a CAS form once the ‘Academic Approval’ section has been completed.

The average processing time for CAS requests is 5 working days, but they make take up to 10 working days if there are any outstanding queries (including fee queries, or queries with a student’s course end date). 
Please note that if the Student Immigration Compliance Team receives a CAS Request Form before a student record has been re-opened, we will only be able to continue processing once the record has been re-opened (XE/Expected to Enrol)

2) Student indicates their intention to return and requires a welfare review. The student will be sent an email asking them to contact SSW to arrange a welfare review. The SSW team will indicate the outcome of the review via the Portico workflow and Faculty should then confirm their approval of the student’s return. The record will be automatically updated to Expected to Enrol with a start date equal to the date of their return. 

If a visa is required, the student can submit a CAS request form to the Student Immigration Compliance Team once their status is Expected to Enrol. Please note that the Student Immigration Compliance Team will only be able to start processing a CAS form once the ‘Academic Approval’ section has been completed.

The average processing time for CAS requests is 5 working days, but they make take up to 10 working days if there are any outstanding queries (including fee queries, or queries with a student’s course end date). 

Please note that if the Student Immigration Compliance Team receives a CAS Request Form before a student record has been re-opened, we will only be able to continue processing once the record has been re-opened (XE/Expected to Enrol)

3) Student indicates their intention to apply for a further period of interruption. Students are permitted a maximum of two periods of interruption, but please refer to the guidance for full details on the categories and durations of interruptions. Once the student has indicated their intention to apply for a further interruption, they must also apply for another interruption via the My Studies section of their Portico account. If they do not, their record may be closed if they fail to return from their current period of interruption. 

4) Student indicates their intention to withdraw. We do not require an additional C2RS application if a student indicates their intention to withdraw following an interruption of study. No further action is required from the department or faculty. Student Records will close the record and send confirmation via email.

Students will receive reminders to engage with this task 3 months, 2 months, 1 month and 1 week prior to their interruption end date. If they fail to indicate their intention or complete their welfare review, where applicable, their record will be closed when the end date of their interruption passes. 

Programme Changes and Return to Study

If a student is returning at the start of the year to enrol onto a new programme, please note the return to study process will relate to the student’s current programme of study. Students should complete the process under their current programme and will be transferred onto the new programme of study following the re-opening of their record. 

If you identify any issues with students in this scenario, please add the details to your Query Management log for review by Student Records. 

Re-enrolment

Students who have indicated their intention to return and have received faculty approval following a welfare review will be invited to re-enrol in line with the timeline for continuing student re-enrolment, which is due to open w/c 22 August. 

Students returning mid-session will be invited to re-enrol from one month in advance of their return date. 

Module Selections

Module registrations may be updated on the student’s record as part of the Return to Study process, however, this is dependent on the actions on assessments that are indicated as part of the interruption application process. Please refer to the guidance for further information. 

Departments and/or Student Records may need to make amendments to a student’s module registrations dependent on the timing of the student’s interruption and/or their return. Students returning at the start of the academic year on a programme with optional modules will be contacted in mid-July and asked to select their preferred modules for the 2022/23 academic year. Students returning to a programme with compulsory modules will not need to make any selections when continuing module selection re-opens in July. 

Departments can also make amendments to interrupted students’ module selections via the Departmental Amend function in Portico and Student Records can support you in this process. Please log any issues on your Query Management Logs. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

The FAQ section on the Interruptions Support webpages have been updated based on your feedback. Please review these, as they cover a range of tasks relating to the Interruption and Return to Study processes. These are under constant review, so please let us know if there is anything additional you would like to be included. 
Fees or Visa queries
Links to the Fees and Visa advice pages are included in the return to study communications that are sent to the students, so please direct them to those teams if they have questions about their fee or visa status. 
Please note that overseas visa applications are currently taking an average of 5 weeks to process. Further information about the visa application process can be found here

For further information please check with your Student Records Manager