Study Abroad FAQ

Refer to the Study Abroad course on Blackboard for detailed and term-specific instructions. Ideally, you will be able to access BannerWeb and register yourself from abroad. If you cannot access BannerWeb during your designated time, you may complete a proxy registration form (available on the Blackboard site). When this form is completed, the Registrar's Office will make ONE attempt to register on your behalf, based on the information listed on the form. Please include the courses for which you would like to be registered; it is best to include several options. If you only give us a limited list of classes, we can only try and put you into those specific classes. If some of those classes are not offered, or if some are closed, we have no alternative. Frequently, students who have only given us a list of classes they would prefer but do not include alternatives fail to get a full time registration. You can take care of these problems later, but it's better to not have the problems in the first place.

The registration rotation will apply as if you were here, and you will have to account for the time difference wherever you may be abroad. The Registrar's Office will also process your proxy registration according to the rotation listed in the current registration information section on the registrar's office home page. Students register according to a) scholar status and b) term admitted into the University as a first year student. Please check to make sure you know your registration class in BannerWeb under "Check Your Registration Status."

Yes. Your scholar status will apply to your registration while abroad just as it does when you are in residence.

No. With the large number of students abroad each term and registering for the coming term, it is not possible for the Registrar's Office to obtain special approvals on behalf of each student. You may obtain special approval before leaving campus and submit the form with your proxy registration request. While you are abroad you may contact the necessary department chair, advisor, or dean directly to request the necessary special approval. You will be responsible for special approvals even if the Registrar's Office is registering you according to your proxy registration request. If you are unable to obtain special approval before leaving or while you are abroad, you will need to arrange to do so when you return to the University.

Before registration begins, you may contact the Registrar's Office by e-mail (registrar@richmond.edu) or fax (804) 287-6578 with your updates. We will use your new requests with or in place of your original Proxy Registration Request form. 

When the advising period preceding each registration begins, the class schedule will be available in its most up-to-date form on BannerWeb but also as a frequently-updated Excel file on the Registrar's website.

If students intend to register for more than 5.5 units (by BannerWeb or by proxy), they will need to submit a Registration Special Approval form signed by their dean (Dean Boehman or Dean Landphair for Arts and Sciences students, Dean Nicholson for Business students, or Dean Price for Jepson students) or have the dean e-mail the approval directly to registrar@richmond.edu.

Only if you've obtained the required special approval. Independent study courses and internships both require departmental approval. Without the permission of the department chair, the Registrar's Office is unable to register you (and you will be unable to register yourself) in these types of courses. You may wish to contact the department chair to see if he or she will process the special approval for classes while you are abroad.

No. To take a class on a pass/fail or audit basis you need the approvals of your advisor, the course instructor, and your dean. You may register in the course and when you return, obtain the form and complete the process any time before the end of the add/drop period (the first two weeks of the term). Please note that you are not allowed to take more than one course a semester at Richmond on a pass/fail basis, and Business School students may not opt to take a course for pass/fail credit.

No. Once a class is closed, you will need to obtain an override from the department using the Registration Special Approval form, available in the Registrar's Office.