Warwick will be your primary site of study but there is provision to study away from campus under certain circumstances, referred to as a change of study location, if approved by your department.

During a change of study location, you will remain fully enrolled and continue to engage with your studies. Fewer than three months and the change of study location will be recorded by staff within your academic department, any longer and the Home Office will be notified. This will not add any time to your existing registration period and will not impact your Student Visa if you have one.

Doctoral students will typically request a change of study location for data collection, or to write up corrections overseas, although it may also be appropriate for other short periods outside the UK where study can continue as normal.

Students enrolled on undergraduate or postgraduate courses are not usually permitted a change of study location.

Want to proceed with this option? The process is managed by your academic department. You must contact them to ask for their approval to be away from Warwick for a period, and, if approved, they will complete any further administrative steps required.

If you want to pause your studies for three months or longer you can request a period of temporary withdrawal. During this time you will retain your IT and library access but will not be actively engaged in study, or required to attend any teaching or examinations.

Any time taken as temporary withdrawal will be added to your course registration period, extending your course end date, which means that the overall time spent studying is unaffected by the break.

Temporary withdrawal is available to all students, for a number of reasons, including but not limited to; medical treatment or ill health, maternity, military service, and financial difficulty.

You may also be required to take a period of temporary withdrawal if you do not hold a suitable visa for study or are not engaging with your course.

Want to proceed with this option? You can find out more here or request a period of temporary withdrawal in your Student Records Online account.

Should you decide not to continue with your studies at Warwick then you can request to be withdrawn from your course indefinitely, called permanent withdrawal.

If you hold a Student Visa, the University will report your withdrawal to the Home Office, which will then take action to cancel your leave. We'll send you an email once this report has been sent. You'll then need to exit the UK or apply to switch to another visa category within 60 days, or by the date the Home Office curtail your visa to, whichever is sooner.

Want to proceed with this option? You should read more here before you request a period of permanent withdrawal in your Student Records Online account.

Authorised absence allows a student enrolled on a doctoral programme to pause study for a short, pre-determined period, with no impact on their Student Visa. It is not available to students on undergraduate or postgraduate taught courses.

Subject to departmental approval, a PhD student can request up to 42 days of authorised absence per 12-month period, for the following reasons: sickness, medical treatment or surgery, maternity, bereavement, to take annual leave or to work full-time.

You are not expected to engage academically during a period of authorised absence, however, unlike temporary withdrawal, time is not added to your registration period to account for the break in study so the course end date will remain the same. If your department is concerned that you will be unable to progress in your studies as expected due to taking a period of authorised absence, then they may not approve your request or might agree to a shorter period than you asked for.

As this break in study is not reported to the Home Office it will not result in curtailment of leave and you can stay in the UK.

Want to proceed with this option? Ensure you discuss it with your supervisor and academic department, then request a period of authorised absence in your Student Records Online account.

If your course includes an integrated study abroad year or a placement year in industry, details of this will be reported to the Home Office as a change of study location, along with the date you will resume on-campus study. This will not impact your Student Visa if you have one.

We do not need to inform the Home Office when an undergraduate takes up an internship during an official University vacation period.