Late start: information for new students starting their course at BU

All students should be ready to engage in their studies or research at BU on their course start date (for most new starters this is Monday 27 January 2025, however some courses have a different start date - please check your offer letter to confirm the start date for your course). This means that you must be in a position to regularly attend classes in-person from your course start date. There are also various activities at the start of the course to help you settle in and ease into student life at BU.

It is important that you start your course on time. To do this, you will need to plan to arrive in the UK a minimum of two days before the course start date. A late start can make it difficult for you to settle into your studies or research and other aspects of your life at BU.

What to do if you may need to start late

We understand that delays to your arrival may be unavoidable, and we will support you as much as possible in planning your arrival and managing circumstances which affect your arrival date (see further information about support below).

However, starting your course late is allowed only as an exception and must be agreed with BU in advance on an individual basis. Please do not assume that you will be allowed to proceed with study on the course for the January 2025 term if you will not be able to attend classes from your course start date. You need to discuss a possible late start with us as soon as you become aware of a potential delay.

If you are not able to start on the course start date, or think you may not be able to arrive on time, please let us know by completing our online form as soon as you are aware of the potential delay. The form asks you to explain the reason for late start and indicate when you are likely to be able to start – this should be a realistic estimate, taking into account the reasons why you cannot start on time.

Complete our online form to make us aware of any potential delay

What happens next

BU will confirm whether we can agree a late start (we may need to ask for more information before making a final decision).
BU can only agree to a late start if we think that you will be able to catch up with your studies, that the late start will not have a significant impact on staff and other students, and if we are confident you will be able to start by the final deadline notified to you.
Where a late start is agreed by BU, we will give you a final start date. You must be ready to start regularly attending classes in person by this date. Arrival and start after that final deadline will not be permitted for any reason. If a late start is agreed with BU, you still need to have completed registration and enrolment as far as possible by the original course start date.
If you are an international student, you need to plan to arrive in the UK at least 1-2 days before any agreed late start date. The final start date is not a final deadline for your arrival in the UK i.e. the date on which your plane lands in the UK. By this final start date you will need to have travelled to Bournemouth, established yourself in accommodation and checked in with BU staff, so that you are in a position to start your studies - this includes being able to regularly attend classes in-person.
- If you are considering booking accommodation outside the Bournemouth area, you must look carefully at transport times and costs to ensure you will be able to meet this requirement.
- Whether starting on time or late, all international students need to attend a final enrolment session and international document check with BU staff so that we know you are here and able to attend classes. This check will need to be completed before any agreed late start date, information about how to do this is provided on our webpages and will be confirmed by email when we confirm your final start date.

Important things to be aware of

Please do not travel to Bournemouth if you have been told that it is too late to start your course and you will be arriving after the final start date notified to you. Please do not make firm arrangements to arrive late unless BU has agreed to your late start (you need to take this into account when making travel arrangements and planning any changes to/cancellation of other living, working or studying arrangements).
If we agree a late start date with you, you still need to complete all of our online registration process and make the required fees payment by the course start date. You also need to complete the enrolment process as far as possible, i.e. all steps apart from the final enrolment session which you will attend in person at BU after you arrive.
If you are unable to start on time and we cannot agree late start, or if you are unable to start by an agreed late start date, we will offer you the chance to defer your course start to the next entry date. Please let us know if you need information about deferral options, or visit our making changes to your application webpage.
For international students:
- When planning your arrival, take into account all steps in the visa process: in addition to expected times for processing a visa application and confirming the issue of a visa, you need to consider the time taken for you to receive your visa documentation. In some countries, this can take 10-15 days after the visa decision.
- If you manage to travel to the UK after the final agreed start date, even though BU has confirmed you should not do so, you will not be allowed to complete enrolment and start your course and BU will need to inform the UKVI (UK Visa and Immigration Service). You will not be able to remain in the UK on your Student Visa: if you want to take up your place in September 2024 you will need to return to your home country to apply for a new Student Visa.
- Where a late start is not agreed or you do not arrive by the agreed final start date, BU reserves the right to withdraw a CAS already issued to you and to inform UKVI that you will no longer be accepted on the course. This is so that we can prevent students from arriving after the final agreed start date in circumstances where they would not be allowed to remain at BU and in the UK.

Support for international students

If you need support in understanding or managing the visa application process, please email [email protected]. Please note however that BU is not able to affect any Home Office application processes and we are not able to ask for application progress updates or urgent consideration.

If you have questions about deposits and fee payments or other enrolment requirements in the context of late start, please contact:

[email protected] if you are an international student on a postgraduate taught course (MA or MSc).
[email protected] if you are an international student on a postgraduate research course (MRes or PhD).

Support for UK students