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Graduate Research Student Visitors – Recognised Student status

University guidance relating to graduate research student visitors requires the following changes to NDCN’s current visitor process:

  • Graduate students visiting for 8 weeks or longer will be processed by the NDCN Academic Administration Team as they receive training by the University’s Student Immigration Team.
  • Graduate students visiting for one term or longer (refers to Oxford’s 8 week terms) must now apply for Recognised Student Status. Maximum visit length is 1 year (3 terms).
  • Graduate students visiting for <8 weeks will continue to be processed by the NDCN HR Team.

Eligibility for Recognised Student status

  • Graduate research students who are registered with another university and are coming to NDCN to undertake research for a minimum of one and maximum of three terms.
  • Students must be currently enrolled on a course equivalent to a UK post-graduate degree, and their research in Oxford must directly contribute to their course in their home country and their home institution confirms this in writing.
  • It is not possible to be admitted as a Recognised Student if the student has already been matriculated as a member of the University of Oxford.

Dates of Visit

  • Where possible, the dates of visits should align with Oxford’s term dates. The student contract will be dated from the start of the academic term even where visits start mid-way through the term. This has implications for visa applications as well as the total length of stay (no more than 1 year from the start date of the first term). It is therefore recommended to try and align visit start dates with the University term dates.
  • A visit of one term can extend into the vacation following that term, providing that the visit ends before the start of the next term.
  • Visits >8 weeks in the summer vacation can be accommodated but the student contract will be dated from the beginning of Trinity Term.

Recognised Student Tuition Fees

  • Tuition fees are payable to cover the cost of access to the University facilities and the guidance provided by the student’s supervisor. Recognised Students are liable to pay a Recognised Student fee which is currently £4,513 per term in the 2024/25 academic year and £4,783 per term in the 2025/26 academic year. The fee is aligned with other MSD departments and charged to ensure equity with DPhil students who receive similar academic services and student support facilities and pay fees each term.
  • If a visit crosses over 2 terms, then the student may be liable for 2 terms’ worth of fees depending on the total length of the visit. However, where appropriate, the termly fee will be reduced by 50% where the dates of the visit don’t exceed 50% of both terms. For example, a visit that starts halfway through Michaelmas Term to halfway through Hilary term, the fee charge would be reduced by 50% for each term.

Eligibility for Fee Waivers

Fee waivers will be considered in the following circumstances:

  • Where a PI can evidence from email correspondence that a research visit has been agreed in principle prior to the date that the new policy regarding Recognised Student status is announced and the student and/or PI does not have funds to cover the cost.
  • Where an Early Career PI[1] can justify the benefits that the student visitor will have on the PI’s career. Such waivers will be capped at 2 in total per Early Career PI.

Requests for waivers should be submitted to their Head of Division for approval, and will require final sign-off by the Head of Administration and Finance.

Application Process

Recognised Student requests (for visits >8 weeks) are to be sent to graduate@ndcn.ox.ac.uk at least 4 months in advance of the term the student wishes to visit (this allows sufficient time for the processes involved, including applying for Recognised Student status, Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) and visas). Where a student submits an application direct, the team will forward the request to the proposed supervisor to confirm support.

The Academic Administration Team will check that the visit is eligible for the Recognised Student route and will communicate the outcome to the supervisor.

The Academic Administration Team will send instructions on how to apply to be a Recognised Student, via central admissions. Once the application has been submitted and checked by central admissions, the team will receive a notification by email. The team will assess the application to ensure it meets the minimum academic criteria (in line with all our postgraduate programmes).

Where the criteria are met, the team will process an offer and set any conditions that are required for the student to meet before their visit. This could be a language condition, for example, if they have not met the required level (this is in line with all conditions that other graduate students are subject to). The student is sent a conditional offer letter, which includes details of the agreed fees. Once the conditions have been met, an unconditional offer letter is sent. The offer letter also provides information on how to apply for a visa, if required.

The team will send information on ATAS (if applicable), and process the visitor card, arrange details of their arrival and carry out the necessary enrolment checks, including checking on payment of fees.



[1] Early Career PIs are defined as researchers Grade 8 and above who are developing their independent research career, are already recognised by the Department as having PI status, don’t have a permanent contract, and have not been awarded full Professor title.