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It is understandable that sometimes you may change your mind about the course you are on. If you are thinking about changing your course, there are a few steps to take and considerations to make.

Firstly, you should fill in a Change of Programme (Course) Enquiry Form which will be sent to your Parent School. This is not committing to the change but is the starting point for having a conversation with your School. In addition, you can speak to your Personal Tutor or another staff member you trust and feel comfortable with. You can also come and speak to LUU Advice, but we are separate from the University so cannot action the change request ourselves. This conversation can help you to think about your reasons for wanting to change programme, and whether it is the best move for you and your studies.

If you do decide to go ahead, your School Support Team can go through the process with you. It involves the new Parent School (if your preferred course is in a different School) or your current School (if within the same School) considering your request. They will look at things such as:

• Whether you meet academic entry requirements
• Whether you have a satisfactory academic record on your current course
• Whether there is space on the new course

If they can accept the transfer, they will contact you to fill out another form that confirms the move.

Sometimes you will need to stay on your current course or take temporary leave before being able to start the new course. The Schools involved will explain if this is the case. You can read our Temporary Leave page for what this will involve.

You can read the University’s full guidance here.

Academic Implications

If your new course is very similar to your old course, you might be able to transfer some credits across. You won’t repeat any modules that you have already taken and passed.

You might have to take a specified module to fill in gaps in your learning – you may have to drop a Discovery Module to do this.

The School you’re joining will make the decision as to whether the modules you’ve already taken are accepted as part of your new course. Generally speaking, they must meet the learning objectives of your new course to be counted.

Financial Implications

Changing course sometimes impacts your funding, for example if you start again at year one of a new course. If you are self-funded or sponsored, then you will need to consider if you and/or your sponsor can fund this change.

If you are funded by Student Finance, you may be using up your ‘gift year’ by changing course. You usually have the years of your course, plus a gift year, minus any years of previous study. For example, an Undergraduate student on a 3-year course who has not studied in Higher Education before will have 4 years of funding available. If they changed course during year one to start in year one of another course, that first year would use up the gift year and they would have 3 years of funding remaining for the new course. This should be fine, but if they were to need future temporary leave or a resit year, they would need to consider how they would fund that in future.

FAQs

What should I do if I cannot change course?

You may be told that a direct transfer is not possible, whether that is due to space on the new course, your academic record, or for other reasons. You might be told that you need to put in a fresh application to the course you want to move to, like any other new student.

If this happens, you’ll need to decide what is best for your personal circumstances. You should consider your career and personal goals, as well as funding available. You might also choose to transfer to a different university if the course is not available at Leeds. For advice on this decision, you can speak to your personal tutor, student support in your School, or LUU Advice.

Can I change individual modules if I am not enjoying them?

Compulsory modules cannot be changed, and some courses don’t allow changes at all (for example, Dentistry). However, for many courses you can change Optional or Discovery modules as long as it is ahead of the School’s deadline.

If online module enrolment is still open, you can change your modules through Student Services. If online enrolment has closed, you will need to check your School’s deadline for module changes and contact your School to ask for the change. Many Schools do not allow changes after week two of teaching, but some have earlier or later deadlines. No deadline is later than week four, and after this time they will only allow a change in exceptional circumstances, at the discretion of the School(s) involved.

What about if I am an international student?

If you’re an international student and you’re thinking of changing your course, you’ll need to:

• Contact the Student Visa Advice service to check if you’ll need to apply for a new visa
• Get the approval of your Parent School as any other student

If you are sponsored, you may need to check if your sponsor has special rules that relate to changing course or changing modules.