Leave of Absence

Leave of Absence for Academic Staff

Any member of staff who wishes to have leave of absence should discuss the matter first with his/her Head of Department, who should be satisfied as to the purpose of the leave and that the Department can cope during the member’s absence. The Head of Department should then send the application to the Vice-Chancellor with his/her comments.

1. Applications for leave of absence for more than a week during term should be sent to the Vice-Chancellor

2. Applications for leave of absence for less than a week during term may be approved by the Head of Department; but a note of such absences, and of important academic activities out of the University during vacations should be sent to the Vice-Chancellor.

Financial considerations enter into any appreciable length of absence. Normally the Council leaves such matters to the Vice-Chancellor to make the necessary agreements with the member of staff (on the general basis that the member should be assisted in his/her academic work as far as possible, and that the University should not suffer financially) and, when temporary assistance may be needed, with the Head of Department.

Sabbatical Leave

Although the University has no formal system of entitlement to sabbatical leave, it recognises the value of leave of absence in appropriate cases in helping to maintain high standards of research and scholarship particularly when academic staff are subject to increasing pressure and demands on their time.
Each Head of Department is therefore expected to make arrangements within his or her department to enable every member of the established academic staff to receive sabbatical leave at a rate of one term in nine. Leave on this basis is therefore understood as the reasonable expectation of relevant staff.
Requests for ‘sabbatical leave’ should be handled as outlined above in relation to leave of absence in general.