Repeat a year of study

The opportunity to repeat a year is only available once within, either level five or six of a staged programme or otherwise within the duration of a programme registration. There is no limit to how many times a level four student can repeat the year.

Students may apply for a repeat year after the fourth week of teaching for the year or level. Students who stop engaging in the first four weeks should refer to the Interruption policy.

Students who stop engaging part way through their course and request to repeat the following year or level, will be interrupted for the remainder of that academic year. Students who do not wish to stop engaging and want to continue and complete the year will remain a registered student for the full year.

Students who apply to repeat the same year but transfer to a new course must meet the entry requirements of the new course.

All modules must be repeated, no marks or elements of marks can be carried over from a previous attempt, even if the student performed better first time round. Where there are optional modules, students may choose different optional modules to the previous year.

It may not be possible for a student to repeat the year of the same course, for example, there may be known changes that will impact on the University’s ability to offer that named award upon the students return.

You’ll need to pay the full tuition fee again for a repeat year of study.

If you stop engaging part way through your course and submit a repeat a year request with interruption, your tuition fee liability will be calculated in accordance with the University’s Tuition Fee Regulations. You will not be eligible for any maintenance support, bursary and/or scholarship payments from the date you last engaged with your academic studies.  Where applicable, the University will advise funding providers of your pause in study. 

If you are funded by Student Finance, your entitlement to student funding (loans, grants, disabled student allowance etc.) ceases from your last date of engagement until the date you return. Student Finance will re-calculate your funding entitlement for your period of registration and will contact you in writing about any overpayment. If you interrupt for reasons of ill-health, subject to providing evidence, your maintenance loan and/or grant entitlement will extend to a further 60 days. If there is a delay reporting your interruption and repeat year request to the University and there is an overpayment of your maintenance loan, as you have received payment you weren’t entitled to, this will be deducted from your next award, upon your return to study.

Entitlement to a Student Finance tuition fee loan is limited and may not always be available when you return to study. It is important that you clarify this directly with them before you make your decision to repeat.  If this is your first year of undergraduate level and you have no previous higher education study, then the repeat year would be classed as your ‘gift’ year and a tuition fee loan should be made available. However, if this is not your first repeat, or you have previous higher education study, you may not receive a tuition fee loan for your repeat year. If a loan is not approved you will be considered a self-funding student and must pay the full tuition fee liability to the University in accordance with scheduled payment dates.

The University will not charge you tuition fees whilst you are interrupted.

It is important to research this thoroughly and discuss funding implications with Student Finance before you submit a request to repeat the year.

The Fees and Bursaries Team and Money Advice Team are on hand to answer any of your money or funding related questions.

Social work bursary

Repeat bursary funding is not payable if you are an undergraduate student entitled to a Social Work Bursary paid by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). This undergraduate bursary is paid as a one-off incentive, which means you will also lose your capped bursary place and you will not be entitled to any further bursary funding for the current or following year. You may still be eligible for the Placement Travel Allowance.

Teaching bursary

Students who repeat a year of a course which is eligible for a teaching bursary will not receive any extra bursary allowance. If a student has studied part of the year and interrupts to repeat, the bursary payments will be frozen from the point of interruption and restart from the equivalent point of the year in which they return to study. If a student has received the full allowance, there will be no further payments made in the repeat year. Total payments will not exceed the amount of the initial bursary award.

Where a student interrupts, repeats, or transfers their course, or decides to withdraw from the University, and stops engaging before their scheduled learning ends (see term dates) their last date of engagement will be required.

It is the basis upon how the University works out a student’s liability for tuition fees and any bursaries the student maybe in receipt of, for example the DfE Teacher Training bursary or the NHS Learning Support Fund. Student Finance will also calculate how much maintenance loan the student is entitled to, based on the last date of engagement provided by the University. This means that if your last date of engagement is halfway through a term, Student Finance will have overpaid you 50% of your maintenance instalment for that term.

The last date of engagement is defined as the date that the University can confirm the student last engaged with their academic studies. This includes classroom based study, submission of coursework, meeting or communicating with tutors.

If you have a visa to study here, there are potential visa implications when you apply to repeat a year of study.

The International team are on hand to provide further information.

If you are considering repeating the year you will need to discuss your position with your personal tutor or relevant department representative, to ensure all options have been explored and considered. You also need to ensure you are fully aware of all the financial implications of repeating before completing the application form.

Application forms must be completed by you in conjunction with your personal tutor or relevant department representative. The department must support the application for it to proceed, applications will not be processed if they have not been supported by the department.

Completed applications need to be submitted to the relevant Academic Records team, who will process the application and notify you once the application has been processed.

If you who stop engaging part way through you course and request to repeat the following year/level, your student status will be interrupted. You are not expected to engage with study, or the University once interrupted. The personal tutor or department representative will maintain contact with you during the period of interruption, as agreed in the Interruption Support Agreement. You will continue to have access to most facilities including:

• Network account (including email)
• Help and support services
• Library facilities and services
• Electronic resources
• Equipment

The Academic Records team will write to you 10-12 weeks prior to your return date to request confirmation of your return to study.

If you are expecting funding from Student Finance be sure to make your application at the earliest opportunity to confirm your entitlement and avoid delays with payment to yourself and the University.

You are required to re-enrol when you return to study. Once you have re-enrolled, we will notify the Student Loans Company and/or the NHS Business Services Authority (if applicable).

If you are returning to a professional programme after a period of interruption, you must satisfy professional requirements, such as occupation health and DBS checks before being allowed to re-enrol.