Student Notices

Please see the Leave of Absence (LOA) procedure for the Semester I 2020-2021 as outlined by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research. 

Who is eligible for LOA

1. The Leave of Absence option only applies to students who have registered, been financially cleared, and have completed at least one (1) semester of their graduate programme. It is not available to new Postgraduate Students who are commencing programmes for the first time in September 2020.
2. New students who have received an offer of a place to commence their degree programme from September 2020 are required to contact their respective Faculty/Programme Representative  or Customer Service Personnel at the Graduate Studies Office to learn of the options available should they not wish to commence their degree programme in September 2020.

LOA Approval Process

Once a student submits an online Leave of Absence request, the student should check their online student academic record/transcript located in the student portal within two weeks of the online submission to verify whether the request was approved.   

Please note: The deadline for Leave of Absence requests has been extended to October 9, 2020. Requests received after this date not be accepted/approved.

LOA Approval Process for Postgraduate Students in:

• Institute for Gender and Development Studies
• Faculty of Law
• Seismic Research Centre 

Postgraduate students in categories above are required to submit a letter via email to postgrad@sta.uwi.edu and addressed to the Senior Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies and Research by the new October 9 deadline date.  The letter should clearly state the name of the student, the student ID number, degree programme and reasons for the request.

Also, in the event the LOA request is for medical reasons, please refer to the section entitled: LOA for Medical Reasons Process (below).

LOA for Medical Reasons Process

Only Leave of absence requests for medical reasons e.g. pregnancy is accepted throughout the semester. Since the online LOA portal closes on October 9, 2020, students are asked to submit the Leave of Absence request for medical reasons via email to postgrad@sta.uwi.edu  (i.e. letter should be addressed to the Senior Assistant Registrar, Graduate Studies and Research) to the Graduate Studies and Research office. 

An official medical letter from the student’s doctor must accompany this type of LOA request otherwise your request will not be accepted/considered. Kindly scan and email both documents to the email address indicated above. Do not submit your medicals for Leave of Absence to the Health Service Unit (HSU).

Online LOA Portal – Technical Difficulties

For technical difficulties, students are asked to send an email to servicedesk@sta.uwi.edu.  

For any additional information regarding Leave of Absence, please visit https://sta.uwi.edu/resources/documents/postgrad/Postgraduate-Leave-of-absence.pdf.

For more about the Office of Graduate Studies and Research please visit https://sta.uwi.edu/research/.