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.
Your
health and wellbeing is our top priority as we prepare to welcome students onto
our campuses in September 2020. We are accepting applications and
processing offer letters for this intake.
Many of our
courses have practical components
taught in specialist facilities such as labs, workshops and creative studios.
We plan to run as many as we can on our campuses in small groups, in safe
environments, from September. We will also deliver as many other face-to-face activities as we can
safely, where it can be done in suitably smaller groups.
For the first term (September to December 2020), we have
decided to deliver all of our lectures virtually so as not to breach social
distancing guidelines for large groups of people. This blended learning
approach will ensure you receive good experiences and high-quality education.
You will still interact with other students and academics, and you will receive
personal support. We will be letting you know how
this will affect your study in more detail before the end of June.
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 quarantine 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 in September, either because of government restrictions on travel,
or if you would prefer to delay your return because of health or personal
circumstances, then provision will be made for you to start your studies for
the new term with us virtually. 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 and we would encourage you to keep
engaging with us when you receive more information about your course before the
end of June.
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.
