Any university staff on here? What happens if a student gets signed off sick?

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If a student got signed off sick for 10 weeks of a term for medical reasons on a course that involved placements would they have to repeat the term/year or would they be excused from missing placements and lectures and be able to catch up?

Best to speak to college/uni student services directly. Will probably depend on course type, some placements e.g. nursing/medical, teaching might be required as part of conditions for qualification as well as degree. Lectures can possibly be caught up on & sit exams at resit times instead.

May not mean delaying a year but possibly need to do additional placements at end of course to catch up & meet professional qualification requirements

The student must speak to their supervisor or course admin urgently.

It depends on the course and the regulations around training/placements.

Depends what course

usually have to make it up at the end of the degree, they may have to graduate with the cohort behind them.

With open uni you can extensions to catch up on the assignments or defer if you prefer. Student services tend to be very helpful.

I was signed off for the remainder of the year on a course (Operating Department Practice - so lots of placements).
I didn't go back in the end, but I would have had to catch up on the lectures/placements I missed.

10 weeks is most of, if not all of a semester. They will need to complete this semester. Depending on the course this may mean redoing a whole year.

The uni needs contacting.

Contact their Registry department and course director for advice. They may be able to have a temporary withdrawal or apply for deferrals until the next submission period. That could create a lot of work to do alongside next semesters modules though and the placements may be compulsory.

Thank you all. I'm not the student in question but it's a student I'm working with on a project for that we are due to work on during our second and third year of our course that makes up a big chunk of our grades. They disclosed to me that they have sadly been signed off for the next 10 weeks (which is the remainder of this term), and I'm not sure if that means I will now have to do the project completely on my own if they will need to repeat the year, or whether they will be able to come back after 10 weeks and carry on and I just need to work solo until then.

Obviously the biggest concern is my peer's health, and I've sent them my well wishes. Just trying to see where I stand.

You need to get in touch with the module leader (or whatever the lecturer in charge of the project is called) to let them know and ask what happens next. Ideally you might want your project partner's permission to share that they are signed off, but presumably the department will have that information very soon anyway. It's the module leader's responsibility to work out a way forward, whether that means giving you a different partner or whatever. It sounds like you need an answer soon, so if necessary, politely re-ask until you get one!

This will have happened before. Start with your Course Leader and/or Module Leader. If their solution disadvantages you talk to the Students Union. If you need to escalate you can talk to the Head of Department and then the Dean. I'm reasonably confident that it won't come to that. Document everything that you can.