The Year Abroad programme provides an opportunity for some students to spend their entire Fourth Year of study at a university outside the UK. This can be done by either completing their final year abroad (H410), or by completing the year abroad as an additional placement year (H411). Students on the H410 programme must complete an individual research project, worth at least 30 ECTS, at the host institution.
Agreements exist with the University of California (UC), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National University of Singapore (NUS), Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-Supaero) and Ecole Centrale Lyon (ECL) in France and Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH Aachen) in Germany. Please note that the Year Abroad programme will not allow students to ‘go abroad’ to their home countries. Tier 4 Visa students are also advised to read the information on the International Student Support website before applying.
Places are limited on the Year Abroad programme. The academic requirements for increasing your chances of being selected for the Year Abroad programme are, at least:
- 70+ for UC, MIT and NUS
- A very good 2:1 for European partners
for Year 1, 2 and 3.
For the exchanges to Germany or France, there is a language proficiency requirement, in German or French:
- By the end of Year 3 you would need to demonstrate a Level 4 (B2), irrespective of how you advance to this level, through HORIZONS or privately.
- If your language level is at Level 1 at the start of Year 1, it is a difficult task to reach Level 4 (B2) by end of Year 3. Further extensive private study would be required.
The Year Abroad Coordinator is Dr Maria Ribera Vicent (m.ribera-vicent@imperial.ac.uk)
Programme transfer process
- Students who wish to transfer to the H410 or H411 programme should discuss with the Year Abroad Coordinator as early as possible their interest in spending a year abroad. They will deal with the allocation of places typically in the January/February of your third year of study at which point they inform students, UG Office and Registry of the initial allocations.
- UG Office will immediately inform International Student Support of any Tier 4 Visa students wishing to transfer and they will check out your visa status and email you as appropriate. Please ensure you deal with promptly any requests for information or instructions they give you.
- Please note that official transfer to a Year Abroad programme will not be actioned until the end of July (after exam board and results released to students). You need to be aware that as stated above that if you have failed to meet the academic requirement the transfer will not take place. The UG Office will inform you when the transfer has been finalised.
- For those students who have applied for a Tuition Fee Loan from the UK government you should now inform them of your new programme code.