General Notices

The Office of Graduate Studies and Research wishes to advise that the Leave of Absence (LOA) online portal for Semester 2 2021-2022 has been opened and closes on Friday, February 4, 2022. For information on how to access, please click here.

Who is eligible for LOA

• 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 January 2022 .
•  New students who have received a degree offer letter to commence their degree programme with effect from January 2022 are required to contact the their respective Faculty/Programme Representative  or Customer Service Personnel at the Graduate Studies Office to learn of the options available should they not be commencing their degree programme in January 2022.

LOA Approval Process 

Once a student submits an online request for a Leave of Absence, 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 do not enter more than 50 characters (approx. 20 words) in the optional box. Should you exceed this amount, your LOA request will not be received in the portal. Late Leave of Absence requests submitted in hard copy after February 4, 2022 will not be accepted/approved.

LOA Approval Process for Postgraduate Students in:

1. Centre for Gender and Development Studies
2. Faculty of Law
3. Seismic Research Unit

Postgraduate students in categories (1-3) 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 February 4, 2022 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 are accepted throughout the semester.  Since the online LOA portal  closes on February 4, 2022, students are asked to submit the Leave of Absence for medical reasons via email to postgrad@sta.uw.edu  (i.e. letter 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. Your medical letters for a Leave of Absence should not be submitted to the Health Service Unit.

Online LOA Portal - Technical Difficulties

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

The Office of Graduate Studies and Research