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Under visa sponsorship obligations, the Home Office's UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration) requires Ulster University to monitor the attendance, engagement and/or the visa status of any overseas students registered for study at the University.

The responsibilities of the student and the University vary depending upon the type of visa that the student is registered on.

Postgraduate researchers who are on any type of visa other than Student Route (formerly Tier 4) will be required to provide their current visa and in-date passport as requested throughout the year, and must notify the University of any change in visa status.

The University is obliged to report any students who break the conditions of their visa or who do not engage in full-time study.

Engagement Monitoring

The University’s central Compliance Team uses records of meetings with supervisors on the PhD Manager system to oversee and monitor engagement of all Postgraduate Researchers who hold Student visas.

Postgraduate Researchers are responsible for keeping their meeting records up-to-date and must ensure that they have recorded, and their supervisor has accepted, notes of at least one in-person meeting on PhD Manager by the end of each calendar month. Exceptions are made in cases only where you are on a pre-approved period of ‘study away’, Leave of Absence, annual leave or another authorised period of absence.

If you do not have an in-person meeting recorded and approved on PhD Manager for any calendar month and do not have a valid reason for this (i.e. the absence was not pre-approved on PhD Manager), it will be noted as an Unauthorised Absence.  If you have two Unauthorised Absences within an academic year the Compliance Team will require you to attend a Sponsorship At Risk meeting to review continuation of sponsorship of your Student Visa so it's important that you maintain your monthly in-person meetings so it doesn't reach this stage.

This engagement requirement continues year-round from the date of registration until the date of submission of the final post-viva thesis with the exception of any holiday periods (which much be recorded on PhD Manager, except for times when the University is closed), and the period between submission of the first thesis and the viva.

Tips and suggestions for managing monthly meetings

  • Schedule meetings with your supervisor/s in advance, even for a few months, and for the beginning of each month to give time for your supervisor to approve the meeting record on PhD Manager. Plan around any annual leave you or supervisors have planned. (Consider this especially over the summer period.)
  • Record the meeting in real time - finalise and submit on PhD Manager the meeting record at the meeting and ask your supervisor to also approve it at the meeting.
  • PhD Manager shows who a task is with for action so if you see that a meeting record is with your supervisor for approval for some time, remind them if necessary to approve the meeting record.
  • If none of your supervisors are available to meet in person in any month, please contact the Postgraduate Tutor for your area to make arrangements to meet with an alternative member of staff for the purposes of monthly monitoring and to record this as usual on PhD Manager as a meeting with supervisors but with a note of the alternative staff member you met with.  The Compliance Team will not accept that a meeting was not held because no supervisors were available.

Attendance/Annual Leave

Postgraduate researchers are normally expected to be on campus on a daily basis (Monday - Friday) from the date of registration to the submission of the final post-viva bound thesis. You can ask the Postgraduate Tutor in your subject area about expectations for attendance if needed.

The only exceptions are when Postgraduate researchers are on a period of Approved Leave, or the University is closed.

There are three categories of Approved Leave:

  • Annual Leave (holidays)
  • Authorised Absence
  • Sickness Leave

Annual Leave

Postgraduate researchers are permitted to take 40 days (Monday-Friday) of annual leave each academic year, this 40 days includes days when the University is closed so the 'floating leave' entitlement is approximately 26 days. The annual leave year runs from 1 October until 30 September the following year. You cannot carry over any 'unspent' annual leave into the next year.

In exceptional circumstances, (i.e. a personal or medical emergency) a short period of additional leave may be approved by the Doctoral College.

To request Annual Leave, Researchers must submit an Absence request on PhD Manager and select the 'annual leave' option.

This only applies within the main period of registration.  Once on an extension there is no annual leave entitlement. In exceptional circumstances, annual leave of up to 5 days in any one extension period may be approved.

The period between submission and the viva examination is also classified as a holiday period and temporary full-time employment is permitted* (providing that studentship payments have finished). Term-time begins again on the the viva date and only part-time employment is permitted and will continue until the final post-viva thesis is submitted.

Authorised Absence

Postgraduate researchers may apply for a periods of Authorised Absences throughout their studies.

These are periods when study will be continuing off-campus.  For example, attendance at a conference/training event or data collection.

Note that if this period exceeds 10 working days, a Study Away Change Request must be submitted on PhD Manager.

Maternity Leave

Postgraduate researchers are entitled to maternity leave of up to one year.

For Postgraduate researchers in receipt of funding through Ulster, studentship payments may continue for up to 6 months of this period.

It is likely that Ulster will be unable to continue sponsorship of visas for those on maternity leave due to the length of time they will be absent from their studies.

Postgraduate researchers will need to return home and apply for a new Student Route visa to complete their research studies.

For Postgraduate researchers who are close to the end of their studies the Visitor Visa route may also be an option for up to 6 months.

Sickness Leave

If postgraduate researchers are too unwell to attend campus, they should notify their supervisors by email and submit an Absence on PhD Manager.

If this period exceeds 5 working days then a letter from a healthcare professional must also be provided.

If the period of sickness exceeds 10 days the Postgraduate researchers and/or supervisors should email the Doctoral College at pgr@ulster.ac.uk for advice on how this may impact the researcher's visa. Please remember to check your Ulster emails if you can so we can contact you.

Working / Employment

There are restrictions on the number of hours and the type of work postgraduate researchers can undertake.

In particular, it is important to note that no full-time work should be undertaken, at any stage, during non-holiday periods (see Annual Leave above) until submission of the final post-viva thesis.

Further information on working on a Student Route visa can be sought by contacting the Doctoral College.

*Based on our understanding of UKVI policies and procedures. You may wish to see external immigration advice.