Not all Edinburgh students will be allowed to defer to avoid online teaching

Edinburgh University will be unable to accept all deferral of studies requests for the upcoming academic year.

The university is anticipating a large number of such requests seeing as university life is highly unlikely to return to normal by September of this year.

A university spokesperson told The Tab: “We can usually defer some offers for most of our degrees, but we can expect the number of deferrals we can allow will be limited. Undergraduate and Postgraduate admissions teams will consider deferrals on a case by case basis.”

“My university life and experience is so much more than just the academic side,” said Georgia, a fourth-year English student. “I don’t want to miss out on my final year of sport because it’s something I’ve grown to love, and attending social events such as charity balls and fundraisers at the uni is so important to me.”

Anna, also a fourth year English student, says: “I don’t really want to defer, but as an international student, if I’m going to have barely any face-to-face teaching, the financially smart decision would be to take a year off.”

The university said: “We are looking forward to welcoming our students in September, delivering an outstanding education to them wherever they are in the world. Undergraduate deferral decisions will be made from mid-June after the UCAS deadline. Postgraduate applicants will also be contacted in June with an update on deferrals.”

The university has confirmed that campus will be open for the upcoming academic year.

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