Leave of absence from your course

Students who have received a new course offer and wish to delay their studies by a year may be eligible to defer their course commencement. To check eligibility, please read the information here. 

If you wish to take some time off from your course, you should apply for a leave of absence.  

If you are an international student there are additional rules, so make sure you read the information for international students on this page. 

You can apply for a leave of absence under the following criteria:

Standard coursework

  • You can apply for Autumn and/or Spring session (Summer is an optional session, no leave of absence required) 
  • A maximum of two consecutive sessions per application (e.g. starting 2022 Autumn session and returning 2022 Summer session) 
  • A maximum of four sessions during a single course 

Postgraduate Online coursework

  • You can apply for a single session (e.g. Session 2) or multiple consecutive sessions (e.g. Session 2-4)
  • A maximum of 6 consecutive sessions per application (e.g. starting 2022 Session 1 and returning 2023 Session 1)  

  • A maximum of 12 sessions during a single course (equivalent to four standard sessions) 

If you are in a course that primarily uses the short teaching sessions (i.e January, February, March, etc) and you would like to apply for a leave of absence, please submit an online enquiry. You only need to submit an online enquiry if you intend to take 6 consecutive sessions of leave. 

Ready to apply? 
Log in and submit your application via the
Subject > Leave of absence tab
My Student Admin

How to apply for a leave of absence?

Submit an application in My Student Admin. To be eligible to apply, you must:

  • have satisfactorily completed the requirements of at least one subject in your current course
  • have not already taken leave of absence for more than four sessions of your current course
  • apply before the Census date of the session you wish to start your leave of absence

You can check the progress of your application via My Student Admin.

If you don’t meet the eligibility criteria but have exceptional circumstances, you also need to:

  1. Submit an online enquiry before the census date of the session you wish to start your leave of absence 
  2. Scan and attach relevant documents to support your application to your online enquiry. Relevant documents may include a medical certificate, an official letter from doctor, employer, counsellor, minister of religion or parent/family member.

The online enquiry will be referred to your Faculty's Responsible Academic Officer (RAO) for assessment. 

You’ll receive an email outcome of your application to your UTS webmail account. 

What happens if my leave of absence is approved? 

If your leave of absence application is approved:

  • Your tuition fees liability will be adjusted to take into account your leave of absence (as long as your application was made on or before the census date of the relevant teaching period)
  • Any credit balance of relevant tuition fees previously paid will be refunded to you
  • If necessary, we may notify your leave of absence to: 
  • Student ID card related access:
    • You're no longer entitled to a travel concession 
    • You won't have access to UTS campus or facilities during your leave of absence period
    • You won't have access to the UTS Library, including electronic resources
  • You won't have access to CareerHub or GITLab
  • If you have access to Interactive High Performance Computing, you will lose access (but your data will not be deleted)
  • You will still have access to My Student Admin and MyTimetable, to make changes to your enrolment and allocations (as long as the dates of the enrolment does not overlap with the approved leave of absence period)
  • You will still have access to log into My Student Portal, to submit AskUTS enquiries, eRequests, new applications to study, and view your previous enquiries
  • You will still have access to log into your UTS webmail account and other Microsoft 365 apps
  • You will still have access to Canvas, however without enrolment into subjects, there may not be any content for you to access

What do I need to do if my leave of absence is approved? 

Before you go on leave:

  • Check your contact details are up-to-date
  • If you receive a Centrelink benefit (such as Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy), you must advise Centrelink within 7 days. Further information, and contact details are available on the Centrelink website

While you’re on leave:

  • Keep your contact details with us up-to-date
  • Continue to check your UTS email account

Before you come back from leave:

I want to return early- what do I do?

If you wish to return early from a leave of absence, submit an eRequest to place your request before the last day to enrol of the session you wish to return in.

I can't return from my leave of absence- what do I do? 

If you’re unable to resume your studies by the census date of your approved leave of absence, either:

We’ll formally withdraw you from your course if you don’t apply to extend your leave of absence or formally withdraw from your course yourself. If you’re formally withdrawn and want to recommence your studies at UTS later, you need to reapply for admission (readmission is not automatic).  

Information for international students

If you are in Australia on a student visa it is a requirement of your visa that you maintain your enrolment at UTS for the full duration of your visa. If you take a leave of absence from your studies, this will be reported to Home Affairs and this may lead to cancellation of your student visa.

You are only able to take leave of absence and maintain the validity of your student visa under very limited circumstances.

In some situations you may be able to apply for your leave of absence to be reported the Department of Home Affairs on compassionate or compelling grounds by UTS International. These generally refer to serious circumstances that are beyond your control and which have an impact on your course progress or wellbeing.

Examples of acceptable compassionate or compelling grounds include, but are not limited to:

  • an extended illness that affects your ability to study
  • a traumatic experience which affects your ability to study

Each application for leave of absence to be reported to Home Affairs under compassionate and compelling circumstances by UTS International will be assessed on its own merits and must be supported by appropriate documentation.

First, UTS needs to approve your leave of absence application after you apply through My Student Admin in the usual way.

If you believe you have a case for your leave of absence to be reported to Home Affairs on compassionate or compelling grounds, you will need to provide documentation to UTS International, who will assess your application check if it meets the criteria. If it does, UTS International will report this to the Department of Home Affairs and you will normally be able to maintain your student visa for one session.

If you wish to apply for your leave of absence to be reported on compassionate or compelling grounds to the Department of Home Affairs, you can discuss your application with a Student Adviser.

Information for scholarship recipients

If you are currently receive a scholarship and wish to take a leave of absence, please keep in mind that it is likely that your scholarship will be cancelled, as most scholarships are conditional on a student maintaining a full-time study load.

If your scholarship is cancelled, you need to re-apply for it when you return from your leave of absence. 

To find out what will happen with your particular scholarship, contact the Scholarships team via scholarships@uts.edu.au or 9514 2527.

Information for US Financial Aid recipients

US Financial Aid recipients have specific Leave of Absence requirements. If you are applying for US Financial Aid or are currently receiving US Financial Aid you should read the Leave of Absence Requirements in detail.

Information for Clinical Placement students (Faculty of Health - Nursing and Midwifery)

Before applying for leave of absence, you need to complete all clinical placement hours attached to your current enrolment.

If you have outstanding clinical placement hours, please contact the Director of Studies for Undergraduate Nursing to review your program and to plan completion of outstanding placements. 

Information for US Financial Aid recipients

US Financial Aid recipients have specific leave of absence requirements. If you are applying for US Financial Aid or are currently receiving US Financial Aid you should read the leave of absence requirements in detail. 

 

Student and related rules:
7.6 Leave of absence

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.