Graduate and international students face particular difficulties during the intermissions process, Varsity has learned, with one student describing it as an “overwhelmingly negative and stressful experience”. This follows last week’s investigation into the intermissions process, which highlighted the lack of support some students experience when intermitting, unenforceable rules, and unnecessarily stressful procedures.

Among the issues and experiences raised by the graduate and international students who contacted Varsity were delays in processing intermission applications, students being “messed about” by bureaucratic procedures involved in the process, pressure being placed on one sick student to repay scholarship funds, unsympathetic behaviour from senior college staff, and difficulties intermitting as a result of immigration laws.

One graduate student highlighted the difficulties raised for students who receive scholarships for their qualifications. Despite having been told by her college that the Student Registry (SR) would not ask for overpaid scholarship money back, the student told us that she was left in a “financial mess” when asked to repay over £5,000 within two months of intermitting. She claims that the College’s advice contradicted official intermissions guidance, which states that “[if] any funds have been paid to you in advance, you must refund [them] immediately.”

An international student told Varsity of the additional difficulties they faced in navigating immigration law. Despite having been diagnosed with depression, they were unable to intermit because rules concerning Tier 4 visas demand that, “if a student is not engaged in full-time study for a period of time”, their visa expires and they are typically asked to leave the UK. The student found the SR unresponsive during the process: having secured the permission of their supervisor, college tutor, and department for an extension to their thesis, they were informed without explanation, they told us, that the SR had denied it.

All students who spoke to Varsity emphasised the stress and fear that the process caused them, particularly with regards to their financial situation and uncertainty about their academic future. One expressed fear that they might not finish their PhD as a result of the additional pressure of the intermissions process, in the event of which they would be obliged to repay their entire scholarship. Another student, with autism, said that they had confined themselves to their room for fear of having their behaviour scrutinised and used against them.

‘This experience has been detrimental to my mental health’ – intermitting as a graduate

Rev. Jeremy Caddick, Dean of Emmanuel College, told Varsity: “as someone who is involved in the process, I am very conscious that it is really important that people are treated humanely. Some of the things that people experience as hostile, such as requiring extra medical appointments or setting exams before people return, are actually done to help.” He added: “Tutors don’t want to send people back into situations where the old problems recur.”

Varsity also spoke to Jessica Wing, the CUSU Disabled Students’ Officer, who said: “intermission has been a focus of the Disabled Students’ Campaign for years – back then it was known as ‘degrading’. Currently I am leading on looking into the conditions that colleges might set students to return to study. My concern has always been that the regular practice of setting students extra exams is tantamount to indirect discrimination, and this urgently needs to be addressed.

“What I do moving forward depends on the colleges’ response: students have expressed dissatisfaction and I will be looking for ways to progress this in a constructive manner.”