Interruptions – January Returners

Return to Study - January Returners

Interrupted students who are due to return in Term 2 have been sent reminders asking them to indicate their return to study intention via Portico. Students requiring a Welfare Review as a condition of their return have also been sent information on how to complete the process with the SSW team. Students who have completed this process have been set up to re-enrol ahead of their return date in January.  

Re-enrolment

Students who have completed the RTS process and are expected to enrol (XE) will be sent re-enrolment information 1 month in advance of their return date. They will be able to log into Portico and complete the re-enrolment task from this point onward.  

Please note, students requiring a Student Visa will be able to submit a CAS request form once their record is set to XE. Please refer any queries to https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/immigration-and-visas. Students will only be able to complete re-enrolment once they have applied for a new visa.

Students who have not yet completed the RTS process should be encouraged to do so as soon as possible. They will receive a final reminder 1 week in advance of their return date and will be invited to re-enrol once the RTS process is complete.  

Students who fail to engage with the return to study process will have their records closed following their interruption end date. If they then wish to return to their studies, they will need to go through the delayed re-enrolment process.  

Module updates 

Amendments to student’s module registrations for 23/24 can be done via the Faculty Amend function in Portico. If you require assistance with module registrations, please add the details to your Student Records Faculty Query Management Log.

How to track the status of your students’ applications  

The Portico task allows you to check the status of each students’ application, from submission through to the end of the process.   

In the ‘Interruption of Study – Open Applications’ container, once an application is submitted, you can review the submitted date, the start and end dates of the interruption, the category of the interruption and status e.g. department review or department reviewed (awaiting faculty review).   

In the ‘Interruption of study – Students Currently on Interruption’ container, you can view the date the application was approved, the start and end dates of the interruption, the category of interruption and the status. In this container you can also check the Return to Study status for each application, under the following columns: 

Welfare Review  

• A status of ‘Not Required’ indicates the student does not need to have a welfare review.   
• A status of ‘SSW Review Required’ indicates the student needs to complete their welfare review with the SSW team and/or the SSW team have not updated the outcome of the meeting via Portico.   
• A status of ‘Faculty Approval Required’ indicates that the SSW team has updated the outcome of the SSW review on Portico, but the Faculty approval is outstanding.   
• A status of Faculty Approved indicates that the faculty has updated the Portico task with their approval for the student to return.   

Student’s Intention  

• A status of ‘Not Known Yet’ indicates that the student has not yet indicated their intention.   
• A status of ‘Returning’ indicates the student has completed the questionnaire and intends to return to their studies at the end date of their interruption.  
• A status of ‘Withdrawing’ indicates the student does not want to return from their period of interruption and is withdrawing from their programme of study.  
• A status of ‘Further Interruption’ indicates the student intends to apply for a second, consecutive interruption.  

You can export CSV downloads from each of the containers in the Portico task, to help you track a range of data, such as start and end dates, approval dates, SSW status and student intentions. 

Return to Study Process Recap 

Students are contacted three months in advance of their return to study date 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:  

• a) 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 Visa Compliance team once their status is Expected to Enrol.   
• b) 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.  
• c) 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.   
• d) 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.   

It is essential that the Return to Study process is followed, to ensure there are no delays to a student’s re-enrolment following their interruption.

Changes to students return dates

Late changes to students’ return dates may cause issues in the Return to Study Process, especially if the change occurs within the 3 month RTS window. If you identify any errors or changes to return dates, please flag via the Query Management logs as soon as possible.

Please contact your Student Records Manager for further information.