Delayed commencement

Commencement in a research higher degree program is fixed to a specific period within the research quarter.

If you have already accepted your offer and cannot commence your HDR study within the research quarter specified on your offer of admission, please contact the Graduate School to request a deferral until the following commencing quarter.

Please advise:

The reason(s) why you are unable to commence your HDR study within the agreed research quarter, and
The research quarter that you now intend to commence your HDR study.

The deferral request will be reviewed. If supported by your advisor and approved by the Dean, the offer of admission and, if applicable, offer of scholarship support will be re-issued to reflect the new commencement research quarter.

If you have not yet accepted your offer, you can request a deferral when responding to your offer via the OLA portal.

You are required to formally accept or decline the deferred offer of admission and/or offer of scholarship support.

Conditions

The following conditions apply to deferral requests:

A maximum of 1 deferral will be permitted per student.
The maximum period of deferral for an offer of scholarship support is 1 research quarter from the commencement stated in the original offer.

Any deferral requests that fall outside of these requirements will mean that deferral request will be assessed on a case by case basis, and you will be notified of the outcome in a timely manner.

If you have already been issued with a Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE) this will be cancelled by the Graduate School at the point of deferral. A new CoE will be issued to you once the deferred offer of admission has been formally accepted.

UQ’s obligations under the ESOS Act

The ESOS Act legislation requires UQ to advise the Department of Education of any international student that does not commence their studies at UQ on or by the agreed start date, as detailed in the Confirmation of Enrolment (CoE).

Therefore any international student who will be studying at UQ on a student visa will need to advise the Graduate School as soon as possible if they are unable to commence by the agreed start date, for example due to a delay in the visa application process.

It may be possible to negotiate a new agreed start date within the same research quarter. If not a deferral may be required.