International doctoral candidates
Find out more about the support available for international candidates and guidance on engagement monitoring for student route visas.
NTU support for international candidates
NTU offers a range of information and support for international candidates on StudentHub, including how to open a bank account, living in the UK, and life in Nottingham.
If you require help with a specific issue, then you can contact the International Student Support Service.
NTU Global Lounges
NTU Global Lounges are spaces for connection, learning and support on both City and Clifton Campus. They offer a range of services and sessions, such as language cafes and crafternoons, as well being a welcoming space to meet for a coffee or take a break from your studies. The Global Lounges are open to all NTU students.
Student route (Tier 4) monitoring and engagement for PGR
As a Student route sponsor, we are required to ensure that all our doctoral candidates on sponsored visas are academically engaged in their studies throughout the period they are being sponsored.
More information about the terms of your visa and its requirements can be found on the Gov.uk site and the UKCISA site.
What is considered as engagement?
Engagement is defined as a candidate ‘actively and consistently following their course of study’. For a doctoral candidate, for example, this could be:
- a PGR training or community event
- an ‘on the day’ assessment such as a test, presentation or examination
- a meeting with a supervisor (please ensure to record your meetings via PGR Dashboard);
- in person attendance at a monitoring event e.g. Project Approval, Annual Review, or a Doctoral School Service event.
Candidates on the Student route must engage in person at least once every month and between engagement events. This could be either via registered attendance at an in-person event such as the ones suggested above or by presenting to the Doctoral Service Desk.
The Doctoral School runs monitoring drop-ins at both City and Clifton campuses every six weeks. These will be communicated via email and PGR Community board, but please be aware that we are not permitted under UKVI regulations to give candidates significant advance notice of engagement events.
If you have attended an in-person event or supervisory meeting during a monitoring period and your attendance has been recorded on the PGR dashboard, then you don't have to attend the monitoring event.
If not, you will need to present in person so that we can record your engagement. Please ensure, that your engagement is recorded and confirmed by members of your supervisory team, academic school or Doctoral School.
Full details about student route engagement at NTU, including what to do if you are unable to make an engagement point or have missed an engagement point, can be found in the engagement monitoring policy. For any questions or queries, contact the Doctoral School at doctoralschool@ntu.ac.uk.