At Westminster, we’re committed to providing the best possible experience for students. As part of this – and thanks to feedback shared through your Student Voice Forum and Students’ Union – we’ve worked to design a simpler academic calendar which better supports your success.
The refreshed calendar will come into effect from the 2025/2026 academic year. You can see the new calendar dates which have been fully updated on our website.
This article provides more details about what’s being updated, what that means for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and where to get more information or ask a question.
What’s being updated – and what that means for students
Most of the calendar updates relate to the timing of assessments and are designed to support more success for students who need to re-sit or complete deferred assessments. This will in turn enable more students to graduate together with their course-mates. Another key benefit of the updated calendar is that it will help more international postgraduate students to access the Graduate Route Visa after their studies.
Before setting out below what’s being updated, it’s worth highlighting that a lot will remain unchanged. Teaching dates will not be impacted by the refreshed calendar, and there will be no change to our standard approach of operating two teaching semesters of 12 weeks each in our courses.
Calendar updates from the 2025/26 academic year:
- The minimum time available to prepare if you need to re-sit or complete deferred assessments will increase from one week to three weeks, to support greater re-assessment success.
- If you’re an international postgraduate student and you need to re-sit or complete deferred assessments, you will have the opportunity to successfully complete your studies in time for the Graduate Route Visa eligibility deadline. This will be supported by the creation of a shorter, more consistent 11-week period for the re-submission or deferred submission of dissertations for both January- and September-entry students.
- Related to this, there will be more consistency in the calendar for January- and September-entry postgraduate courses.
- The designated start date of the undergraduate summer break will be brought forward. If you’re an international student, this will increase the number of paid hours of work you’ll be eligible to undertake during this period under the terms of your visa – and if you’re a home student, you’ll be able to start placements and summer work earlier.
- Reflecting the increase in authentic coursework taking place during the semester and the fewer number of exams across the majority of courses, some exam periods will be shortened.
- If you’re a postgraduate student who started at Westminster in January 2025, the updated calendar may lead to some variation in your dissertation submission deadline. Please be assured that your course leaders will update you in due course if any changes are required.
Calendar updates from the 2026/2027 academic year:
- Semester one results will be released in February so that re-assessment can take place in April/May. Currently, final semester one results are released in June, with re-assessment taking place in July. This change will support greater re-assessment success by reducing the time gap from initial assessment. If you will be a final-year undergraduate student in 26/27, and you have outstanding semester one modules, it will also provide the opportunity for you to complete re-assessments earlier, ensuring you’re more likely to graduate with your course-mates.
- If you need to re-sit or complete deferred semester two assessments, the time available to prepare will increase further – from three to four weeks.
As you’d expect, we’ll closely monitor the impact of these calendar updates – to make sure they’re having the positive effect on students which they’re designed to have.
More information
If you have any questions about the updated academic calendar, just ask the Student Centre team by clicking the Live Chat speech bubble icon on the bottom right corner of the Student Hub web page.
