We are looking forward to welcoming new students at the start of the academic year and of course we understand that this is a worrying time. The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is impacting how we live our lives across the world. We understand that you will have questions on how this will affect your application to study with us at the University of South Wales.
USW remains fully committed to welcoming international students, and we would like to reassure you that USW continues to follow UK Government, Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance and continues to carefully monitor and provide updates to keep our international community safe.
This page contains important information for offer holders and applicants intending to join our student community in September 2020. We understand you will have questions regarding the impact of Covid-19 and the following FAQ’s aims to address these.
For current students and staff, please refer to our central page FAQ's and updates and internal resources on Connect and Unilife.
The wellbeing and health and safety of our students and staff is paramount to us. We are committed to delivering our courses, research opportunities and other services as safely as possible. The ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic means that we are having to make changes to the way in which we deliver our courses and services for the academic year 2020/2021.
Your student experience is important to us and we have been working and continue to work to ensure your overall experience. We intend to deliver our courses in a blended format; with a proportion of the teaching and learning being delivered digitally, and where it is safe to do so, some teaching and learning being delivered in person and using social distancing and/or mitigating measures as deemed appropriate in line with government guidance.
The nature and balance of learning and teaching methods and activities are sufficiently flexible to adapt and enable you to succeed in your studies. Due to the pandemic, the methods and activities adopted for the coming year may differ from those previously published and may be subject to further change through the course of your study if such change is necessary due to public health concerns, health and safety guidance or in response to Government Guidelines. Please note that if you are hoping to join us to study from a country outside of the UK, your options/studies may also be impacted by Government guidelines or decisions of that country.
Any changes to your course have been considered and approved through the University Quality Assurance processes, which include student and external scrutiny. If any further changes are necessary we will inform you at the earliest possible opportunity.
USW International is currently working remotely and continues to support students via email, telephone and online chats. For applicant queries please use the dedicated live chat feature on the University of South Wales homepage to speak to our Enquiries and Admissions team.
For visa and immigration queries, please contact the Immigration and International Student Advice service.
To speak to our International Officers, please refer to our country specific pages where you will find contact information for the International Recruitment Officer responsible for your country or region.
Whilst the following FAQ’s attempt to answer as many of your questions as possible, we acknowledge that this is an evolving situation and will continue to update guidance as it becomes available from the UK Government and UKVI.
Other useful resources, general advice and travel information for international students can be found via the UKCISA and Foreign Commonwealth Office websites.
While the situation is constantly evolving, we have put together a question and answer section to keep you up to date with the latest developments here at USW. If you have a query which is not answered below, please email us at: international.admissions@southwales.ac.uk
At this stage it is difficult to predict what restrictions may be put in place in the coming weeks and months due to the rapidly evolving nature of this situation. Please check the Foreign Commonwealth Office and Public Health Wales page for more guidance.
If there are self-isolation controls in place for people coming into the UK when you are planning to travel, then we will get in contact to provide you with further information about how the University will be able to assist and support you.
If you are unable to travel to the UK for the start of the new term, either because of government restrictions on travel, you must inform the University by completing this form.
If you are an international student on a Tier 4 visa, then you must also inform the Tier 4 Administration Team in Academic Registry whether you intend to come to campus or not, by completing this form.
If you need to start your studies for the new term virtually, then the University will put provisions in place to enable this. For courses where there are mandatory elements of practice or practical sessions, we will work with you to do all we can to make alternative arrangements where possible. However, please note that whilst we will endeavour to make alternative arrangements, by not attending the sessions you may miss specific learning experiences. This may mean that you are not able to complete your course within the length of your visa and may need to extend it in the future. If you have any queries in relation to your visa, please contact our Immigration and International Student Advice team.
At this moment in time our team unfortunately cannot travel overseas.
However we are able to provide support and information through a range of
digital channels In the meantime, please visit your country
page to find the relevant staff contact details.
We are aware that the situation with exams and assessment in some countries is currently unclear. Because of this, there may be students who do not receive the awards and qualifications that they were expecting. Rest assured, we are monitoring these developments and will make appropriate decisions in due course. Please do contact our admissions team if you have any concerns or questions.
