======= Date Modified 12 45 2010 00:45:47 =======
======= Date Modified 11 09 2010 20:09:26 =======
I am in deep trouble. I am enrolled in a phd program in the history department. In my 3rd year (academic year of 2009/2010), I did not want to be in UK. I wanted to be back home and write my thesis and be in touch with my supervisor by emails. After much convincing, my supervisor she gave me the okay to not be present at the department.

However, now I have to go back to UK to enroll for an extra term to work with my supervisor to submit to her a *draft* of my thesis in December, which I was supposed to submit in September. I have been late and my work pace disappointing but this is for another post.

So I needed to apply for a visa (my visa expired since Feb 2010 and I was of the country before that anyways) and I contacted Registry for some papers! Somehow my Registry asked me where I was last year and I said abroad. They went crazy. It seems my supervisor was supposed to inform the Registry about my absence from the university while I was registered as a full-time student and I did not know it would be this serious. The Head of Registry, let's call him X, sent an email out to me, my supervisor and an Assiociate Dean of Research regarding my case. What's worse is that X thinks or is implying that I need an extension beyond the legal four years for phd submission, in my case September 2011. This is what complicates matters because I never implied so.

I am very scared they might discontinue my degree or make me repeat my third year. What should my course of action be?

I already emailed X and mentioned that I do not need an extension beyond my deadline of September 2011. I just need time until December to submit my *full draft* to my supervisor and this is something my supervisor and I had already discussed and agreed upon. However I mentioned nothing about my whereabouts as I am waiting to hear from my supervisor.

I am shitting it. Please words of advice!!!!

I won't pretend this is great advice (or not affected by my current lit review on different types of power), but I think it's reassuring.

Contact the Students Union and draw on any support that they can offer you. While it may seem like everyone else holds all the cards, you do have power resources that can be drawn upon to put your point across and that ensures you are not just a decision-taker. It will mean that you are fundamentally not alone and will have (more) people in your corner.

I might be wrong but I think you're perhaps OK as far as the degree is concerned. I think it might be the visa they're panicking about. Universities have to report regularly to the UK border agency that international students are in attendance (to prevent people who don't study but use a student visa to enter the UK to work). Now as your supervisor didn't tell them you weren't in the UK, they may have been returning false assurances that you were (I know international students here have to sign in with the faculty in person every few months for this purpose, so it's possible that they're now realising that they haven't got a good system in place). As your visa has expired in the meantime, there's a good chance the UKBA will notice this. Any university caught risks losing their licence to sponsor international students & staff. But if I'm right, it's the university not you that possibly in trouble. The difficult thing might be though getting a new student visa. Has your university got a visa advisor - it might be worth contacting them if there is one.

You know, as far as my uk visa, I obviously did everything legally. I did not overstay my visa. The stamps are clear on my passport so as far as this is concerned, I am not in the wrong. But yes I think the university might be in trouble because of this. I am not sure whether the Registry where reassuring the UKBA every few months....

I really did not know about this and I am so shit scared of my degree being discontinued.

Do you work as a professor or do you know the politics of these matters? I mean if I cannot obtain a visa because my university will not sponsor me, what do I do if I need to visit my supervisor or attend my examination viva?

The other matter is... Do you think they may discontinue my degree just because I was not present at the university? Do you think I have put my supervisor in a difficult situation? I mean yes she gave me the okay to not be present but I had to literally insist on it for a month. But she agreed to let me off. I don't know who's responsibility this is and if it is mine or hers to have informed the Registry. I wonder if the Registry will let this pass for the excuse that me and my supervisor did not know any better.

God help me....

Well I am panicking mainly as I have not heard from my supervisor who last week asked me to tell the Registry I was out of the country since February. But it is a lie because I have been gone before that, since October 2009 and she knew it. So I never mentioned anything of the sort to the Registry because it is a lie and I did not want to lie. I just never mentioned anything. But they found out somehow (partly my fault, slip of my tongue as I told them my supervisor gave me permission to be gone when I thought she'd already informed them).

I spoke to the International Office and really they did not give me any specific answers but rather generic answers.

I hope things go well... But you can't blame me for panicking.

Thanks though.

Please please please wish me luck...

Actually, I do not understand her reluctance to be honest with the Registry and admit a mistake. I am. I really feel like emailing her and tell her that it is best we be honest: She gave me the okay to not be present in the university or the country and I have been gone since October 2009. I think this is much better than keeping information from the Registry or telling half truths.

Should I email her with this suggestion?

I think I want to be honest and honesty is the best policy.

Another option you could explore, especially if you are 100% convinced you can finish in the 4 years, is your school's policy on "stopping the PhD clock" retro-actively. I know my uni will let that happen if personal situations occurred (which you seem to hint at) that would have disrupted your PhD progress, but you couldn't not have predicted until after you saw how much time you lost.

A friend of mine recently had to do this for his first year as his supervisor lead him down a project that, in the end, had nothing to do with the PhD. I don't know how this will play out, but it is an option I would look up if I was you.

Hi,

I think better tell the truth to the registry. Anyway, if they check yr passport they will definitely come to know about the travel dates. It might create more problems. In my Uni, there is a clear policy that the student is responsible for informing directly to the registry apart from supervisors. I do write to registry directly about any changes (e.g. address, my travel etc). Do you have any written permission from the Supervisor? It will be helpful for you although it may be problematic to your supervisor. Wish you good luck and hope the things will sort out soon.

WanderingSage I like your idea. The idea of "retroactively" requesting an "interruption of studies". This is what it is called at my university. I don't know how this will play out. I may consider it. But I don't know as yet because I have not heard from my supervisor or the Registry. But also, if I am to apply for the "interruption of studies" retroactively for the academic year of 2009/2010, I had already paid fees for 2009/2010 and I don't know how that may make matters easier or more complicated. I can imagine the Registry forcing a penalty on me of having to repeat my year and thus exact from me a fee of 12,000 gbp because I am in International Student.

But I will consider this.

Whatever you do, tell it like it is, exactly. You must have something that shows your super gave permission, even if it is only an email. Maybe you should have informed your registry, but you can check the rules online of you are worried. Supervisors get info on the rules etc. in their meetings, so she should really have informed you, in case you didn't know. Don't panic, I bet it will be alright in the end.

Hi Phd_Girl,

No need to panic - this matter can be resolved providing you keep an email trail. First, universities are under obligation to report to the UKBA (UK Border Agency) not because the student can't be working away from the UK. Working away from university (in your home country) as far as I know is not a problem for UKBA, but might be a problem for Registry and your department. Some universities require a minimum of (face-to-face) contact time between the student and supervisor in order to allow the student to progress from one academic year to the other. Registry might be hitting the roof about this in particular. If their regulations state that you should do your phD in a minimum of 36 months full-time (as is the case at my uni), then they also expect a minimum x amount of contact time with your supervisor each year. So it sounds like Registry are now not willing to count the time that you've spent in your country as part of this required 36 months where you had to be registered as a full-time student. This might be why they're asking you and your department to compensate for your absence from uni by adding another 12 months to your registration period before you can submit.

With regards to UKBA, there have been tighter monitoring procedures implemented recently requiring universities to report an international student's attendance regularly to the government. The whole point of introducing tougher measure is so that (as Bewildered mentioned) international students don't enrol onto universities courses but then work in the UK instead of studying (which is what they should be doing and what the student visa was issued for). Some students in the past came in with student visas but stopped attending their degrees and worked in the UK for that period instead. Universities did not report attendance to UKBA so a lot of students got away with it. Now things have changed and your attendance has to be reported regularly. You weren't in the UK so you couldn't have (obviously!) been working here, as your passport stamp will show. From that point of view, your university's not in trouble. What they may eventually get in trouble with UKBA for is if they've been reporting you as attending your degree the whole time you weren't. This will show that their system is inaccurate and will alarm the UKBA that they might have made similar mistakes in the case of other international students. But don't worry about this - it's really not your problem.

To enter the UK you can do so on a visitor's visa or a student visa - but don't try to obtain a visitor's visa and bypass Registry because your university's regulations might require you to be in the UK during the whole period of your degree (something your supervisor obviously didn't know). Did you keep an email of when she told you it was OK to study from your home country? If so, call the Head of your Department and explain to them what's happened. Tell them it was an error (they'd probably want to cover for your supervisor's error and help smooth things out with Registry) and that your supervisor though it was OK but now Registry say it isn't. Ask them for their help and ask them to let you know what you need to do next to resolve this. Keep an email trail (send this in writing and follow up by a phone call). That way, if push comes to shove, you can always show Registry that you did what you were told. It might turn out in the end that you don't have to do an extra 12 months in the UK; but if the university's regulations state that you must, then you may have to go along with it just to get your PhD done!

I thank you all for your quick and detailed responses. Each input has helped me and calmed me down. I have not yet heard from my school. As soon as I know, I will update you guys.

Wish me luck.

Lots of love.