During Your Placement

During your first week, you must get the ‘Study Abroad Confirmation of Arrival Form’ signed by your host institution. This should be returned to exchange@uca.ac.uk within two weeks of your arrival. 

It is important to be successful in your Study Abroad placement that you both attend and engage with the program at your host university. UCA will continue to monitor your attendance and engagement in the program.

Failure to attend or engage may result in withdrawal from the host university program, not achieving the credits required for your UCA degree progression and if you are a Tier 4 Student Visa holder your visa is cancelled and withdrawal from UCA.  

You must update UCA on any changes to your circumstances, including contact details and enrolment status, and any health or well-being issues affecting your ability to participate in the programme.  

You are responsible for engaging with your new institution and its community and completing your studies. However, throughout your exchange placement, the UCA Global Team and your Academic Lead will check in to ensure you are settling in, enjoying your temporary home and course and succeeding.  

If you are a Tier 4 Student Visa holder, then you must continue to fulfil the conditions and obligations under the UK Visas & Immigration Tier 4 Student Visa scheme whilst studying overseas. You must response to all UCA check-in and communication while you are overseas promptly. If you do not respond or if you do not have a reasonable explanation, the University may take steps to withdraw sponsorship of your visa and withdraw you from the University and the host university. For further information, please contact the visaadvice@UCA.ac.uk  

Remember, the UCA Global Team, your Academic Team and the UCA support service are here to help throughout your placement.  

While overseas, you can still access UCA resources and services, including all your online accounts. 

If at any point the courses listed on your Learning Agreement change, or you need to confirm the elective units you enrolled in, please complete the ‘Learning Agreement Change Request Form’, ensuring it is signed by the host university and your UCA Programme Director and return this to exchange@uca.ac.uk 

Academic Guidance 

You will remain under UCA academic guidance for the duration of your placement and will still be assigned a personal academic tutor.  

Academic Policies and Procedures 

First, during the placement, you will be governed by the host university’s policies and procedures. Failure to adhere to these will result in the host university escalating the matter to UCA and the possibility your withdrawal from the program.  

Mitigation of circumstances 

While on placement, mitigation of circumstances will be governed by your Host Institution in the first instance. These may be escalated to UCA if the circumstance changes from a short-term to a long-term circumstance or if you adhere to Host institution policies.  

In instances where an unforeseen or unforecastable event outside your control occurs that impacts your ability to continue and complete your exchange placement, UCA may award the student a mitigation of circumstance to cover the duration of your exchange placement. 

Typical examples include but are not limited to:  

• Serious illness of the student or immediate family member 
• Sudden deterioration of a long-term condition  
• National emergency or political unrest  
• Changes to financial or accommodation circumstances  

The relevant director of the school or delegated programme director is authorised to consider mitigating circumstances in these instances.  

It is noted that in these situations, wherever possible, UCA will first attempt to re-enrol the student in the current semester and aim to limit the student's interruption of studies.  

Withdrawal or Interruption of Studies 

The overarching UCA Policies will govern withdrawal and Interruption.   

If you wish to withdraw or interrupt your exchange placement, consult the UCA Global Mobility Team and your Programme Director.   

Please note that your degree progression may be impacted if you withdraw or interrupt. You may have to resist the entire semester before progressing or may not be awarded the International Study Year Suffix. 

Module or Course Failure 

If you fail a host university module in the first instance, you will be offered a resit as per your host university policies. If you cannot complete the resit or fails, the resit UCA will provide you with a reassessment.  

Your programme director is responsible for setting up the reassessment. To support the programme director, UCA Global Mobility will coordinate the collection of the original assessment brief, marking rubric, students’ submissions, and assessment outcome/feedback from the host institution.  

If you go on to fail the reassessment and are a semester exchange student, you may be unable to progress to level 6 and may be required to re-sit the semester at UCA.  

If you are an International Study Year student, you can progress to level 6 but will not be awarded the International Study Year Suffix as part of your degree 

Before you depart from your host university, you must complete the ‘Confirmation of length of study' form. You must get this signed by your host institutions and return it by email to exchange@uca.ac.uk no later than two weeks after your departure.