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Engagement monitoring: PhD courses

Last updated:
15 January 2026

If you hold a Student Route visa, read more about how UAL will monitor your attendance and engagement with your PhD or MPhil course.

Your engagement will be monitored by the following:

  • evidence of 1 in-person academic contact per month and
  • monthly email contact between the Assistant Head of Postgraduate Research (PGR) and your Director of Studies to confirm engagement.

Your monthly academic contact can be evidenced by:

  • Supervision meetings (must be in-person, not online)
  • Attendance at a Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme session (these must be in-person, not online)
  • submission of the Application for Registration
  • submission of a Post-Registration Ethics application
  • the Confirmation Meeting/submission of the Confirmation Report
  • the Annual Report
  • submission of the application for Writing Up status
  • thesis submission
  • the mock Viva voce
  • Viva voce
  • submission of the amended thesis
  • submission of the final thesis.

The Assistant Head of PGR will also email your Director of Studies once a month to confirm engagement.

  • There must be at least 1 in-person academic contact for each month. It is not possible to have a number of contacts in a short period which can then be averaged out over the year.
  • The type of contacts throughout the year will vary for each student.
  • The monitoring runs from October to September each year for students who started their course in September and January to December for students who started their course in January. Term dates do not apply.

Example academic contact plan

An example academic contact plan based on a full-time student in their first year:

  • October – Becoming a Researcher session
  • November – Submission of the Application for Registration
  • December - Supervisory meeting
  • January - Supervisory meeting
  • February - Creative and Critical Methodologies session
  • March - Supervisory meeting
  • April - Supervisory meeting
  • May - Supervisory meeting
  • June - Spring Symposium
  • July - Supervisory meeting
  • August – Creative and Critical Methodologies session
  • September – Supervisory meeting

Evidencing your monthly academic contact

Email the document confirming your academic contact by the end of each month. The Research Student Team will check your record at the end of each month and contact you if the document is missing.

Select a category for guidance on how to submit a document:

Supervision meetings, Confirmation and Annual Reports

  • Supervision meetings: Record your supervision meetings on a supervision record sheet and upload to your student portal. Submit the form by the end of the month during which the supervision meeting took place.
  • Confirmation meeting reports: your Director of Studies will submit this form to researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.
  • Annual reports: email the form to researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.

Applications for Registration, Ethics and Writing Up

Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme attendance

  • Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme Attendance: The Research Student Team will check registers. Students need to sign into the event using their full name.

Thesis and Viva voce

  • Thesis submission: email your thesis and submission declaration form to researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.
  • Mock Viva voce: your Director of Studies will email researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk to confirm the date it took place.
  • Viva voce: your viva voce Chair will submit the joint final report to confirm your examination took place.
  • Submission of the amended thesis and final submission: email your thesis and submission declaration form to researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.

Students in Writing Up status

For students in Writing Up status only 5 supervision meetings are scheduled for the year. For the remaining months, either attend a Researcher Development Programme session or schedule a meeting with the Assistant Head of PGR.

Students who have submitted their thesis

For students who have submitted their thesis for examination, the academic contact point can be evidenced by attendance at Researcher Development Programme session, a meeting with the Assistant Head of PGR, the mock Viva voce, the Viva voce, submission of the amended thesis or submission of the final thesis.

If you miss 1 academic contact point you'll be sent a Course Engagement Form to complete. This gives you the opportunity to confirm your reasons for non-engagement and provide evidence (where applicable).

You'll be asked to complete and return the Course Engagement Form to confirm that:

  • you understand the University’s attendance policy
  • you understand the conditions of your Student route visa
  • you understand the authorised absence process (see below)
  • you understand the conditions under which you’ll be allowed to return to studies and the consequences of further non-engagement.

If you complete and return the Course Engagement Form within 5 working days, you’ll be able to continue your studies.

If you don’t complete the Course Engagement Form within 5 working days, you'll be suspended and given an additional 5 working days to return the form. If you don’t return the form within an additional 5 working days, you risk being withdrawn from your studies.

If you don’t engage with your course for 30 calendar days after being sent a Course Engagement Form, you’ll be suspended from your course. We'll email you to confirm your suspension and give you 5 working days to respond to the suspension email. If you respond to the email, your overall engagement will be assessed and a decision as to whether you should be withdrawn from your course will be made. If you fail to respond to the suspension email, you’ll be withdrawn from your course.

Course withdrawal

If you’re withdrawn from your course, your withdrawal will be reported to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), who will be instructed to cancel your Student Route visa. You’ll receive an email confirming this and outlining your next steps. Upon receipt of the withdrawal email, you’ll need to prepare to leave the UK within 60 days.

Select an absence category to read the guidance:

Sickness or other unforeseen absences

  • Absences of up to 10 working days: you must inform your Director of Studies and the Research Student team at researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.
  • Absences over 10 working days: you must submit an application for authorised absence form to the Research Student team at researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk. You may be asked to include supporting evidence and written confirmation from your Director of Studies in support of the absence.

Planned absences of more than 10 working days

  • You must request an authorised absence no later than 1 month before your absence is due to begin. Requests made after this time will not be authorised. Email your application for authorised absence form to the Research Student team at researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.
  • Academic-related absences (e.g. conference attendance) must be approved by your Director of Studies. Submit an application for authorised absence form stating your dates of departure and return. Include an agreement that you will contact your Director of Studies at least once while you’re away.
  • Absences of more than 4 weeks will not be authorised. If you are absent for more than 4 weeks your sponsorship will be withdrawn and reported to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). As a result, UKVI may cancel your visa.

Authorised Absence Form

To request an Authorised Absence Form, or if you would like to discuss your plans for an authorised absence, please contact the Research Student team at researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.

You may be permitted to study away from UAL, either in another city or country, if you need to collect data or conduct research as part of a project.

You may be permitted to study away for up to 12 weeks per academic year. In order to be eligible, you'll need to:

  • have satisfactory engagement with your studies
  • be up to date with the payment of your course fees
  • obtain approval from your Director of Studies
  • complete the study away application form
  • meet academic contacts and demonstrate engagement with your studies during the time that you will be studying away from UAL.

Study Away Form

To request a Study Away Form or if you would like to discuss your plans for study away from UAL, please contact the Research Student Team at researchdegrees@arts.ac.uk.

Please note that authorised absences and study away periods cannot run at the same time.

A formal time out can be for a period of no shorter than 3 months and a maximum of 12 months. If you need to request time out from your research degree studies this will mean that:

  • your Student Route visa will be cancelled
  • you will need to leave the UK and reapply for a new Student Route visa from your home country following the time out. This will not have a negative impact on your visa history.

Before submitting an application for time out you should plan this carefully with:

Retrospective time out will not be allowed. If you need to take time out, please contact the Research Student team as soon as possible to discuss your options.