Postgraduate study for international students

Postgraduate study in the UK

There are 2 main types of courses:

• Taught courses such as Masters Degrees or Postgraduate Certificates or Diplomas.
• Research courses such as an MPhil or PhD.

For further details see:

• Further study - a section of the Careers Service website on postgraduate study.
• Prospects - postgraduate study
• Prospects - already in the UK - more information on further study.

You should begin researching postgraduate courses as early as possible. For the majority of courses there are no fixed application deadlines, but popular courses fill up quickly. Check with each University for their individual application procedures.

Extending your Student Visa

If you wish to continue your studies you will need to extend your Tier 4 Visa.
For further information on this see:

• Student Services Information Desk (SSID)
• Making a Student Immigration Application in the UK - a useful leaflet on the UKCISA website which gives advice on how to apply to extend your permission to be in the UK as a student under Tier 4 of the Points Based System.

Funding

Fees will vary depending on the University, type of course, length and subject.
Details of some of the sources of funding for international students are below:-

• Firstly, check with the Universities and the Departments you are considering whether they have any sources of funding to which you can apply.
• Prospects - funding my further study
• Prospects - postgraduate fees and scholarships
• UKCISA
• British Council Education UK
• Scholarships for international postgraduate students - a section of the British Council website giving details of:
  • the 'British Chevening Scholarship Scheme'
  • the 'Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan' (CSFP)
  • the 'Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme'
  • 'Royal Society Fellowships'
  • 'Scotland’s Saltire Scholarships'
  • It also has a downloadable handout, 'Sources of Funding for International Students', and mentions scholarships for students from specific countries, European Union Schemes, UNESCO and WHO schemes and Voluntary Organisations/Charities scholarships.
  • Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) are usually open to international students. They are three-way projects between a graduate, an organisation and a university/research organisation/further education institution and are mainly in the scientific/ technical/ management/ social science areas.

Postgraduate study outside the UK

If you are interested in studying outside the UK begin your research early as there will be a lot of information to check out such as qualification equivalents, residency criteria, application procedures, possible funding support etc.

Prospects - country profiles - A good place to start is the Country Profiles on the Prospects website, which have a postgraduate study section for each country.

There is also information in the Careers Library in the Study Abroad section.