Northern Ireland students at English universities can travel home for Christmas in early December, according to guidance from the British government.
A "student travel window" will be opened from Thursday 3rd to Wednesday 9th December.
Until then, they must stay at their term-time address. England is currently under lockdown until Tuesday 2nd December.
English universities are expected to offer online teaching so students can continue study at home if possible.
"From 3 December to 9 December, which will be known as the 'student travel window', students will be allowed to travel home?on staggered departure dates set by universities," the new UK government guidance states.
"The student travel window will mean students can travel having just completed the four-week period of national restrictions, reducing the risk of transmission to family and friends at home."
The universities minister said the expectation was that students travelling home to England from other parts of the UK would be asked to be “on par” with the restrictions for English universities.
Students across Scotland will be advised to only go out for essential reasons and exercise for two weeks before going home for the Christmas holidays, the country’s Higher Education Minister has said.
In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, Richard Lochhead said: “We will advise any student who wants to return home for the end of term to voluntarily reduce their social mixing for two weeks before going home.
“This means going out only for essential reasons and exercise.”
He said there will be “staggered and early departure irrespective of the level the institution is currently in”.
Mr Lochhead added: “Universities will be asked to make any necessary adjustments to scheduling to ensure that in-person teaching and assessment ends early enough to allow students time to get home at the end of term.
“I see that Universities Scotland has highlighted the staggered dates for the end of in-person teaching at Scottish universities from late November to mid-December, so they are not expecting a great surge of movement.”
Universities in Wales will conclude the majority of in-person learning in the week leading up to December 8 as part of measures to enable students to return home “as safely as possible”.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said students who are planning to travel must “make arrangements to move from their term-time accommodation” by December 9 at the latest.
The Welsh Government is working with universities in Wales on an asymptomatic mass testing pilot to explore the use of lateral flow devices, she told a press conference in Cardiff.
“We are working with our universities to roll out the pilot before the end of term,” Ms Williams said.
“We would encourage students, and staff if they want to, to sign up for the asymptomatic testing to give added reassurance around returning home and spending time with loved ones at the end of term.”
Michelle Donelan said she expected Scotland and Northern Ireland to publish their plans for students returning home in the coming days.
She told BBC Breakfast: “If there is an English student that is studying in Scotland or in Wales, what we are saying to them is that they need to basically be on par with English students who have gone through this four-week window of national restrictions so they need at least two weeks of refined behaviour and we will be providing a comms campaign to support that, with information so they know exactly what they are to do.
“Equally if there is an English student that is going back to Scotland or back to Wales or back to Northern Ireland they can look out for the guidance that is coming out from those countries over the next few days.”
Ms Donelan also said universities need to ensure that quality and quantity of teaching is maintained if they are to continue charging maximum tuition fees, but said online learning is “not necessarily inferior”.
It was “right” for students to go to university this term and they should be allowed to return home for Christmas, the chairman of the Education Select Committee has said.
The British government has also confirmed it is planning to carry out mass testing of students for Covid.
"Tests will be offered to as many students as possible before they travel home for Christmas, with universities in areas of high prevalence prioritised," the UK government guidance states.
"This will provide further reassurance that where students test negative, they can return home safely and minimise the risk of passing coronavirus on to their loved ones.
"If a student tests positive before their departure they will need to remain in self-isolation for the required period of 10 days.
"Moving all learning online by 9 December gives enough time for students to complete the isolation period and return home for Christmas."
It has not yet been confirmed if mass testing will also be in operation before Christmas at Northern Ireland universities.
