Extension to submission deadline

The Regulations for Research Degrees do not restrict the potential duration of submission deadline extensions, or the number of occasions on which a student can apply for an extension.

 Is expected that individual extension requests will not exceed 12 months, and the School will generally not grant more than 24 months of extension in total to any student. Accordingly, it is generally expected that students will not need to apply for an extension on more than 2 occasions

Applications can be submitted in your final year of studies and should be submitted no later than 6 months prior to your current submission deadline.  If you wish to make an application outside this timeframe, we strongly recommend contacting the PhD Academy to discuss your application in advance. 

Yes, you are liable to pay the full fee amount for each further term of study plus any inflationary increase. LSE’s table of fees can be found here.

 Students with disabilities may be allowed to register beyond the maximum period of study at a zero fee if this has been recommended by the School’s Disability and Mental Health Service (DMHS) as a reasonable adjustment and recorded in a My Adjustments plan. If you have a MyAdjustments Plan (formerly known as an Inclusion Plan) then please ensure that this is referenced in your application.

1.Please contact the Student Advice and Engagement Team for guidance on how an extension may impact your visa before you submit your application.

2.The PhD Log is the authoritative record of your engagement with your studies. As UKVI will only allow the School to continue supporting your visa if the PhD Log demonstrates that you have been engaging with your studies, please ensure that your PhD Log records are accurate, up to date, and have been approved by your supervisors before applying

3.If you intend to apply for a post-study visa, such as the Graduate visa, please contact the Student Advice and Engagement Team for guidance before you submit your application to ensure you understand the potential implications of your extension application.

4.If your research requires Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) clearance and your request is granted, you will need to apply for new clearance within 28 days of the date on which you are notified that your extension request has been approved.  Contact the Student Advice and Engagement Team for further advice. 

The School’s online application portal will not allow you to submit a draft application. Accordingly, we recommend that you save drafts of your application elsewhere before submitting. We recommend specifically discussing your draft application before uploading it to the School’s change of circumstances application management system.

The form will ask you to provide/confirm the following:

1.    Your funding status.

2.    Your visa status and whether you have contacted the Student Advice and Engagement Team for advice about this.

3.    Whether you have discussed your application with your supervisor or department contact, and if so, who you’ve discussed your application with.

4.    The new submission deadline you’d like to request.

5.    The main reason for your request (from a drop-down list).

6.    A narrative section describing the main reason for your request, which should describe the factors which will prevent you from submitting your thesis by your current submission deadline.

7.A work completion plan setting out how you will progress to completion if your extension is granted.

8. Evidence to support your application

The Student Wellbeing Service are available to support all students, and overall information on sources of support from the School can be found here. If you are applying for an extension based on health grounds and/or disability, it is particularly important that you contact the Student Wellbeing Service to discuss available forms of support, in particular whehter you are elgible for a MyAdjustments Plan.

The PhD Academy website also provides comprehensive information on sources of support and training available to PhD students, some of which may be relevant to the circumstances you are facing.

Your plan should indicate how you will use the time between the point at which you submit your application and the extended deadline that you are requesting.

 Your work completion plan must specifically include the following components.

1.    A description of the progress you have made to date in the production of your thesis.

2.    The remaining work which you will need to complete in order for you to be able to submit an examinable thesis.

You should use clear and direct language when producing your completion plan. We also recommend including references to target chapter/paper lengths. Some examples of effective uses of language for work completion plans are included below.

“For the chapter entitled [INSERT}, I have completed [INSERT] in terms of fieldwork and data collection. I still have to complete [INSERT]. This will be completed between [INSERT] and [INSERT]. I will submit interim drafts to my supervisory team for feedback by [INSERT] and [INSERT].

“For the paper entitled [INSERT], I have written/drafted [INSERT]% of the paper, which will be approximately [INSERT] words, to an examinable standard. I still need to draft [INSERT]%. This will be completed between [INSERT] and [INSERT]. I will submit an interim draft to my supervisory team for feedback by [INSERT].

3    The ways in which you have re-framed your project in order to minimise the duration of the extension you have requested.

 This step is essential, as the purpose of the extension application process is to provide you with sufficient time to produce an examinable thesis, and an examinable thesis will not necessarily be the same as the thesis you planned to submit before you decided to apply for an extension. Your plan should therefore explicitly describe which papers/chapters you have decided to re-frame or remove in order to keep the length of the requested extension to a necessary minimum

4.    A timetable setting out when you will complete each aspect of the remaining work described in your plan. Your work completion plan should be structured on a chapter-by-chapter/paper-by-paper basis and include both (i) deadlines agreed with your supervisors for submission of interim drafts and (ii) deadlines for agreement that each chapter/paper is complete for the purposes of submission. This is the most straightforward way to ensure that your supervisors, programme director and the Research Degrees Sub-Committee Chair are able to assess the viability of your work completion plan.

5. A description of the supervisory arrangements which will be implemented to support you during the period of the requested extension and any other School or non-School support you will access. This section will ideally set out a schedule of supervisory and other support meetings which will occur during the period of your requested extension. This does not necessarily need to provide specific dates but should provide sufficient detail to assure the Research Degrees Sub-Committee Chair that you will be appropriately supported during the period of your requested extension.

The following can be used to frame the “Support and Supervision” section. Please adjust as necessary.

 Support and Supervision

Supervisory Arrangements

I will have regular supervisory meetings every scheduled every x month/ I will meet my supervisors x times per term

Support

I am accessing supporting services from LSE Wellbeing Service/outside the LSE

I have access to /research workshops/PhD Seminars/external conferences/writing support services.

The extension application form is an online portal that can be accessed here.