Coronavirus (Covid-19) Advice

Advice for Study Abroad and Exchange (visiting student) applicants

Updates on Visiting Student Applications 2022/23

We are closely monitoring the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19) and keeping our applicants and partner institutions updated:

The University’s Covid-19 latest guidance

The University of Edinburgh will continue to welcome visiting students to the University in 2022/2023.

More information about the mode of teaching and learning in September 2022 will be provided closer to the start of the new academic year. We are doing everything we can to ensure your safety and that of the wider Edinburgh community and all our plans follow guidance from the Scottish Government and advice from public health experts. The national vaccination roll-out is going well and the Scottish Government has confirmed that international students will be included in the vaccination programme, so all our students will be able to get the vaccine in Edinburgh if they haven’t managed to be vaccinated before travelling.

We do expect that some Covid-19 restrictions will have to continue, such as physical distancing, face coverings and hand hygiene measures.

For the majority of students there will be a mix of in-person and digital teaching, but we expect overall there will be more in-person teaching for students than in the previous academic year. The amount of in-person teaching will vary from programme to programme and depends on the discipline and the stage you are at in your studies, and will be influenced by our capacity and of course by the latest Covid-19 restrictions.

Supporting Documents

If possible, please submit supporting documents such as university transcripts and English language certificates with your application. However, if you are struggling with this, supporting documents can be submitted after the application deadline. We will do our best to accommodate students who need extra time to submit supporting documents.

If your university is unable to provide you with an official transcript due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we can accept an unofficial transcript or statement of results that has been signed, dated and stamped by a relevant member of staff. If you are experiencing difficulties in obtaining this, please do get in touch with us.

In this instance, we reserve the right to request an academic reference – on headed paper and signed by a relevant member of staff – to verify that you are fully enrolled at your home university and approved to study abroad and to confirm that the information on your unofficial transcript is accurate.

We will consider accepting Pass/Fail instead of grades for semester GPA and/or courses taken in Spring 2020, Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. If you had to take a course on a Pass/Fail basis in later semesters due to Covid, then we may also be able to accept them as long as you can obtain a written confirmation from your home institution that these grades have been awarded as a Covid-19 mitigation measure. This will be accepted towards admissions entry requirements as well as individual course pre-requisites. Supporting documentation regarding an applicant’s individual course grades or overall GPA may also be required, which will be determined on a case-by-case basis.