Leave of Absence
Leave of Absence
During your studies, you might foresee circumstances that will make it necessary for you to focus on things other than your academic work. These circumstances may vary from illness to family-related or other upcoming priorities. If you feel this is applicable to you, please contact the Connect Centre's Senior Counsellor and/or your tutor to discuss your situation.
Usually it is with your tutor that you start to formalise a leave of absence. After you and your tutor agree that a leave of absence is the best step for you, you can submit the Leave of Absence request via Osiris “Case” –> Start case -> Student guidance and wellbeing -> “UCU leave of absence”. You will be informed about the outcome of your request, please ensure to log in and also check for any specific teacher or tutor comments.
Please note! A leave of absence can only be requested before the start of the semester. If you wish to leave during the semester (i.e. you are already enrolled in courses), you should have the same conversation with your tutor or the Senior Counsellor, but submit a course withdrawal request for all courses you are currently enrolled in - also via Osiris Case: "Course withdrawal".
Important: Without an approved Leave of Absence request, stipulating a date of return, you are not automatically entitled to re-enrol in courses and/or housing on campus.
A leave of absence usually lasts one semester, or two semesters at most. In this period you will live off-campus.
If your leave of absence starts in the Spring semester, you may want to terminate your enrolment in Studielink. At the end of an academic year (31 August) your enrolment will be automatically terminated. If you terminate your enrolment earlier, you will be reimbursed the remainder of your tuition fee (termination of enrolment as of 1 July or 1 August does not entitle you to a refund).
Please note that termination of your Studielink enrolment will have consequences for your visa/residence permit if you have one (see section below). It also affects your entitlement to financial support from DUO (“Studiefinanciering”), your OV travel card, your Solis mail and access to the University Library. Find out more about terminating your enrolment. If you still have questions after reading this page, please contact Utrecht University’s Student Services.
If you are a non-EU/EEA student and you terminate your enrolment while your residence permit is valid, it becomes void and you will be required to leave the Netherlands within 28 days. The university can request a new travel/residence permit for you prior to your return from a leave of absence (see the section Returning from a Leave of Absence below).
You may also opt to stay enrolled, however your visa/residence permit for study purposes will only remain valid under the following conditions:
- You must remain enrolled as a student at Utrecht University. This means that you cannot apply for a partial refund of your tuition fees
- You must remain registered at the Dutch municipal database (BRP)
- You must continue to meet the IND’s requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress
Apart from the above-mentioned (financial) consequences correlating with your Studielink enrolment, you may be entitled to a refund of your campus fees and/or housing deposit. You can check this in the document “Leaving University College Utrecht” on this page. If you are indeed entitled to a refund of campus fees, please contact the University College Finance department. For the housing deposit, you can fill out a form to be found here.
As mentioned before, you cannot continue living on campus. Everything you need to know about leaving your room (from deregistration at the municipality to insurances and check-out procedure) can be found under “Leaving University College Utrecht” on this page.
Your check-out date will be confirmed in the Leave of Absence decision you will receive.
Planning for course enrolment
Prior to your return from your leave of absence, please contact your tutor in time for the next semester (half way throughout your leave semester; and with sufficient time before the deadline for course pre-enrolment for the next semester). This will be to discuss how your leave period is working out, and to jointly assess your readiness to resume study/residential life, including necessary arrangements for course enrolment, housing etc. After discussing your curriculum planning with your tutor, you can then also pre-enrol for courses for the upcoming semester. Please keep an eye on the academic calendar for the first course pre-enrolment deadline (usually 3 weeks after the midterm break of your leave semester); making this deadline will help you obtain sufficient access to courses.
Re-enrolment via Studielink and visa renewal
Re-enrolment for UCU goes via Studielink: for the Fall semester re-enrol before 1 September; for the Spring semester re-enrol before 1 February. Please contact UCU’s Registrar’s Office with your explicit intention to re-enrol, no later than 3 weeks before this deadline, as individual permission is needed to facilitate re-entry in Studielink. If you no longer have access to Osiris (for course pre-enrolment), please contact the Registrar's Office earlier, so they can help you with access to Osiris as well as the re-enrolment via Studielink.
An earlier request to re-enrol is also needed if you are a non-EU/EEA student, as you will need a new entry visa/residence permit. This must be requested 3 months before your intended return. Please contact UCU’s Registrar’s Office with your explicit intention to re-enrol, they will then also enable your access to apply for a new entry visa/residence permit through the university’s visa application process. Please note you will again need to pay your tuition fees in full, when applying for a renewal of your entry visa, from the date your re-enrolment starts (either 1 September, or 1 February).
Returning after a leave of absence of over one year
Students who wish to re-enrol after a period of absence of more than one year, should contact their tutor before the midterm period, and together with the tutor preprare a curriculum plan for their return, to be approved by the Exam Board. If you no longer have a tutor, please contact the Registrar’s Office, who will put you in touch with the senior tutors.
We intend to welcome you back after your leave of absence, but it may be possible that you decide that you are not going to resume your studies at University College Utrecht at all. In that case, please contact your tutor and complete the Discontinuing Studies form to inform the Registrar's Office. Consult the Leaving University College Utrecht page to make sure there are no remaining issues.