SEF Undergraduate Handbook 2025-26

If you are on a 4-year ‘With a Year Abroad (WAYA)' programme, you will spend the third year studying abroad at one of our research-leading partner institutions all over the world, and you will then come back to Queen Mary for your final year of study. It’s your responsibility to secure a place to study abroad but help will be provided by the School. Applications open every year in October and are made/handled directly by the Global Opportunities team. A list of the partner institutions is available here. You will need to apply for your Study Abroad destination during your second year (the year before you are due to go abroad).

In order to progress to the year abroad, you must pass all your modules (with no failed units) prior to departure and achieve a weighted average grade of 60.0 across the first and the second year, otherwise you’ll be transferred to the three-year version of your degree course.

During the study abroad year, you have freedom to follow your interests and choose a variety of modules you are interested in, as long as it’s 25% related to your field of study. Study plans must be agreed with the study abroad coordinator before departure and module choices are subject to availability at the partner institution.

You’ll be assessed according to the academic regulations at the partner institution and, therefore, if the host institution doesn’t offer the chance to resit an exam, you won’t be able to resit the exam at Queen Mary.

If you don’t complete, or fail to pass, the study abroad year, then you’ll be transferred onto the version of the degree without the year abroad, albeit with the study abroad year showing as a fail on your transcript.

You can study abroad only during the allocated study abroad year (year 3 of the 4-year programme)

You must pass 90 out of 120 credits at the partner institution with no minimum mark in order for the year abroad to be recognised by Queen Mary and be part of your degree. The year abroad is counted as a pass/fail module at Queen Mary, as such no grade is awarded for it and it doesn’t count towards the degree classification.