Information for applicants

If you are an applicant, information about each of our courses can be found on the course pages of our website. 

Undergraduate courses    Postgraduate courses

Undergraduate programme factsheets

If you hold an offer with us, you can download your programme factsheet which provides a summary of your chosen course. Select your year of entry below:

2016 entry     2017 entry    2018 entry    2019 entry    2020 entry    2021 entry    

Information for potential international students can be found on the International Students Advisory Service (ISAS) pages of our website. 

Information on disability, dyslexia and learning support can be found on the Disability and dyslexia support pages of our website.

For undergraduate students applying for the 2020/21 academic year 

The UK Government has confirmed that tuition fees for September 2020 entry will remain capped at £9,250, and the University of Birmingham will charge the maximum approved tuition fee per year. If you are studying full-time, the fees for your first year of study will therefore be £9,250. If you are studying part time, your course fees will be capped at £6,935. For more information visit the gov.uk website.

The UK Government has also confirmed EU students will continue to be eligible for 'home fee status' with the tuition fee for September 2020 entry, and so fees for full-time EU students will be capped at £9,250 for the first year of study. Part time course fees will also be capped at £6,935.  In addition, EU students will continue to have access to financial support available via student loans for the duration of their course.  For more information take a look at the gov.uk website.

The fees for the first year of your course for 2020 entry and any other costs associated with the course are set out on the course pages of our website. Please keep referring to our Fees page on our website for up-to-date information.

Part-time students

Information on fees and funding for part-time students is available on the Undergraduate fees and funding pages of our website.

Paying your fees

It is your responsibility to make sure your fees and all expenses relating to your course are paid in full and on time. The University’s requirements on the payment of fees can be found in Regulation 5 (PDF - 140Kb). If you are paying your tuition fees yourself, you must either pay the full amount at the beginning of the academic year or apply to pay by instalments using the University direct debit scheme. If you are a sponsored student, you are responsible for payment if your sponsor does not pay your tuition fees.

Unless your offer letter says otherwise, the tuition fee quoted in your offer letter does not include any charges for residential accommodation, examination re-sits, extensions to the designated period of study, travelling expenses or any other miscellaneous expenses which may be related to your course (such as the cost of field trips). Details of any other miscellaneous expenses you are likely to incur on your course are indicated on the course pages of our website.

If you do not pay your tuition fees in full or on time, the University may impose penalties which are set out in Regulation 5 (PDF - 140Kb). As a result, you may not be allowed to progress on your course or you may be expelled from the University. The University may also take legal action against you to recover any unpaid fees.

If you do not pay any other (non-tuition) fees or other sums you owe, the University may take action to recover those sums. This may include withholding any service for which you owe money (for example, if you do not pay library fines you may not be allowed to access the Library or use some or all of its facilities) or taking legal action against you. However, you should note that if as part of your course you spend time in another university, institution or organisation in the UK or abroad, the rules and regulations of that university, institution or organisation will apply to you while you are there. Some overseas institutions might impose academic sanctions, for example, they might refuse to release your marks, if you do not pay either tuition fees or any other fees or costs (such as accommodation or meal plan fees) which you owe them. This might mean that you are not able to complete your course as planned.

If you withdraw from your programme, you may still be required to pay your tuition fees. The policy on how withdrawal date affects your fee liability is available on our fees pages. This does not affect your statutory cancellation rights (see below).

For postgraduate students applying for the 2020/21 academic year 

Tuition fees vary at postgraduate level depending on the course and level you choose and whether you are a UK/EU or international student. Details of the postgraduate tuition fees for the 2020 academic session are published in the PG fees finder. To find the fee for your programme enter the programme title or subject keyword into the search box.

Part-time students

Information on fees and funding for part-time students is available on the Postgraduate fees and funding pages of our website.

Paying your fees

It is your responsibility to make sure your fees and all expenses relating to your course are paid in full and on time. The University’s requirements on the payment of fees can be found in Regulation 5 (PDF - 140Kb). If you are paying your tuition fees yourself, you must either pay the full amount at the beginning of the academic year or apply to pay by instalments using the University direct debit scheme. If you are a sponsored student, you are responsible for payment if your sponsor does not pay your tuition fees.

Unless your offer letter says otherwise, the tuition fee quoted in your offer letter does not include any charges for residential accommodation, examination re-sits, extensions to the designated period of study, travelling expenses or any other miscellaneous expenses which may be related to your course (such as the cost of field trips). Details of any other miscellaneous expenses you are likely to incur on your course are indicated on the course pages of our website.

If you do not pay your tuition fees in full or on time, the University may impose penalties which are set out in Regulation 5 (PDF - 140Kb). As a result, you may not be allowed to progress on your course or you may be expelled from the University. The University may also take legal action against you to recover any unpaid fees.

If you do not pay any other (non-tuition) fees or other sums you owe, the University may take action to recover those sums. This may include withholding any service for which you owe money (for example, if you do not pay library fines you may not be allowed to access the Library or use some or all of its facilities) or taking legal action against you. However, you should note that if as part of your course you spend time in another university, institution or organisation in the UK or abroad, the rules and regulations of that university, institution or organisation will apply to you while you are there. Some overseas institutions might impose academic sanctions, for example, they might refuse to release your marks, if you do not pay either tuition fees or any other fees or costs (such as accommodation or meal plan fees) which you owe them. This might mean that you are not able to complete your course as planned.

If you withdraw from your programme, you may still be required to pay your tuition fees. The policy on how withdrawal date affects your fee liability is available on our fees pages. This does not affect your statutory cancellation rights (see below).

A Student Protection Plan is a document that is approved by the Office for Students (OfS) that every University is required to have in place.

The Student Protection Plan sets out what measures we have in place to protect you, as a student at the University of Birmingham, in the event that a risk to the continuation of your studies arises. The measures contained in this Plan are in addition to the protections you have under consumer protection law and do not affect your consumer rights.

Read the Student Protection Plan

Changes to programmes or modules may also be needed because of circumstances outside the reasonable control of the University, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach (where the programme or module is reliant on that person’s expertise) or where the minimum or maximum number of students needed to ensure a good educational or student experience has not been met or has been exceeded.

Other circumstances outside the reasonable control of the University include unexpected lack of funding, industrial action, severe weather, fire, civil disorder, political unrest, government restrictions or serious concern about the transmission of serious illness making a course unsafe to deliver.

If changes to your programme are made after you have accepted your offer, the University will try to give you early notification of those changes and minimise their impact by offering suitable alternative arrangements, helping you find an alternative programme or University, or providing compensation where it believes there is a fair case to do so.

After you have accepted an offer of a place, you can cancel your acceptance within the cancellation period without giving us any reason. The cancellation period runs for 14 days from the date we receive your acceptance. If you cancel your offer within the cancellation period, any deposit or administration or other fees you have paid will normally be refunded in full. If you start your course during the cancellation period, the University will charge you a reasonable sum for the course provided.

You can cancel your acceptance by informing the University’s Admissions Office by email at admissions@bham.ac.uk or by writing to the Admissions Office, the University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT using the Cancellation Form below.

Cancellation Form:

To the University of Birmingham Admissions Office:

I give notice that I cancel my offer of a place to study on the ........................................... programme.

Name of Applicant:

Address of Applicant:

Applicant/ID Number:

Signature of Applicant (if cancellation is by letter)

You may be asked to leave the University if:

• Your academic performance is not satisfactory;
• You are expelled from the University for breach of the conduct, Fitness to Practise, attendance or reasonable diligence requirements;
• You do not pay your tuition fees in accordance with the University’s Regulations;
• You are dismissed or expelled from any other organisation which you are required to attend or be a member of as part of your programme;
• You do not have the correct visa or immigration permission to study on your programme at the University or do not meet the requirements of your visa, and you are an international non-EU student needing a visa to enable you to be in the UK to study;
• The University has reason to believe that you have not supplied all relevant information or have supplied false or misleading information relating to your application to the University or to any relevant unspent criminal convictions;
• As a result of your actions, the University is unable to find a suitable placement, which is required to complete your programme.

A decision requiring you to leave the University will be taken in accordance with the relevant procedure and subject to any right of appeal or review. If the University has good reason for expelling you and does so in accordance with the relevant procedure, the University will not compensate you for any loss or damage you may suffer as a result.

If you, with material input by the University’s academic staff or as part of a collective project, develop an invention, device, discovery, material, product, process, computer software or any other potentially valuable result or innovation, Regulations 3.16 and 5.4 will apply to you in the same way as they apply to members of staff. In other cases, the University will apply the Intellectual Property guidance which is set out below.

When does the University require an assignment of intellectual property (IP) from a student?

There are two main scenarios:

i) Where the student is working as part of a team of researchers in the University and the IP developed by the student is either:

1. Relevant to the problem being addressed by the team and forms part of a solution to the problem being developed by the team; or
2. Jointly owned by the University, as the IP was jointly created with another member of the team;

and in both cases the University is intending to try and commercialise the IP.

ii) Where the student in the course of their study or research develops some IP jointly with a member of staff of the University or where the input from the staff member is material and the University is intending to try and commercialise the IP.

There may be other cases where the University would require an assignment but these would be dealt with on a case by case basis according to the circumstances, and the University will discuss with the student the reasons for the assignment and how the student would benefit.

The procedures and arrangements for notification and exploitation are set out in Regulation 3.16. Any such assignment under this Regulation would cover:

1. Only the IP and its uses that are necessary to allow the University to commercialise a technology which incorporates the IP either directly or indirectly; and
2. The financial benefit the student would receive in return should the IP be successfully commercialised.

The student would also have the right to be named as an inventor on any patent application where the student met the criteria for being acknowledged as an inventor under the law and the right to be named on any scientific journal articles according to normal academic practice.

The University is committed to providing a high quality educational experience, supported by a range of academic and administrative services and facilities. From time to time, however, things do go wrong, and if the matter cannot be resolved informally, the University provides students with a system for raising concerns and complaints about both academic and non-academic matters. The Code of Practice on Student Concerns and Complaints (PDF - 196Kb) sets out a procedure for dealing with students’ complaints fairly, consistently and as quickly as possible. Students who are dissatisfied with a decision relating to a complaint they have raised may be able to complain to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), an independent body which reviews student complaints. The Code of Practice on Admissions (PDF - 164Kb) sets out the procedure for asking for a review of decisions made in the application and admissions process.

Before deciding to transfer to a different programme or university, you should always talk it through with someone (such as your Personal Academic Tutor, Research Supervisor, Wellbeing Officer, a Career Advisor or a Guild Advice Advisor) to make sure that you are making the best decision for you, and that it is possible given time and programme constraints.

You should also consider that transferring programme is likely to have implications that will affect the following:

• Any financial support you receive from Student Finance England (SFE)
• Housing contracts
• Visa and ATAS  

Transferring to the University of Birmingham from another higher education institution

Undergraduate degrees:

Whilst we cannot normally consider any transfers to the third year, it may be possible to transfer to second year, though it will depend upon whether the programme that you are interested in accepts transfers.

Your circumstances, your previous qualifications and how you are progressing through your current degree will be taken into consideration and you should discuss this with staff at your current university and make contact with the Admissions Tutor for the programme you wish to transfer to before making an application (contact details are listed on the programme webpage).

You will normally need to have met the standard entry requirements for the programme and will need to provide a transcript of results and a reference from your current institution.

If the Admissions Tutor is happy to consider the transfer, you will then need to apply for entry point 2 through UCAS.  

If you wish to transfer within the first year of your degree programme, you will need to submit an application through UCAS for entry point 1.

Postgraduate degrees:

If you have already completed part of a postgraduate degree at another university, you may be able to transfer to UoB and claim for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).   You can view information on our taught postgraduate programmes, and make an application, via our programme webpage.

If you wish to transfer your registration on a research degree from another higher education institution, please refer to our Code of Practice on Admissions - Section 11. A reduction of up to a maximum of two thirds of the minimum period of registration may be granted and, if the research degree programme comprises any taught elements, you may be able to claim for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL). Please note that you must make an application for admission. You can search our research courses online.

More information on making a claim for APL can be found online.

Transferring to a programme at another higher education institution

If you decide to leave the University of Birmingham to undertake a programme at another university, you will need to contact that university to find out if they will consider you for a transfer and then seek advice from them about how you can apply.

If the transfer is agreed and you are offered a place at another university, you will need to inform us that you will be leaving Birmingham so that all the necessary paperwork can be completed.

Undergraduate and postgraduate taught students

You should apply to change programme as early as you can in the academic year. If you apply after the first two weeks of term, there may be extra conditions you need to satisfy before you can transfer onto the new programme. You may also be asked to defer your entry to the new programme to the next academic year. You should check with the Admissions Tutor in the School or Department to find out if this is the case.

Programme details including Admission Tutor contacts from the University prospectus 

If you do decide to change programme, you will need to complete a Transfer of Degree Programme Form.

Postgraduate research students

If you wish to transfer your registration, for example from full time to part time, to/from split location, upgrade from masters to doctoral study, or to another School in the University, you should discuss this with your supervisor at the earliest opportunity.

You will need to complete a PGR Programme Transfer Form and submit it to the Research Student Administration team.

Codes of Practice describe the operational procedures that the University uses to deliver teaching and learning, and supporting services. Codes of Practice of particular interest to applicants and students are:

Code of Practice on the Admission of Students (PDF)

Outlines the application and admissions processes, including deadlines and some relevant URLs. The Code also includes the process for the review of any unsuccessful application, as well as specific guidance on transferring registration from another Higher Education Institution (HEI).

Code of Practice on Academic Appeals (PDF)

Guidance on eligibility and the grounds for Academic Appeals, as well as an explanation of each stage of the process. An appendix sets out the procedure at an Academic Appeal Committee hearing.

Code of Practice on Student Concerns & Complaints (PDF)

Explains the procedure for students raising concerns or complaints about the University. The Code outlines the stages of the process and gives direction as to how the policy is to be applied. There is reference to mediation, an alternative option in seeking to resolve complaints.

Code of Practice on Student Attendance and Reasonable Diligence (PDF)

Contains stage-by-stage information on monitoring student attendance, as well as the expectations of a student with respect to attendance and diligence including timescales. It also discusses some of the options available to staff in looking to resolve problems related to attendance or diligence.

Code of Practice on the Supervision and Monitoring Progress of Postgraduate Researchers (PDF)

Sets out the expectations of postgraduate researchers as well as supervisory teams and Schools, in terms of the support and monitoring that is to be provided to students, as well as the responsibilities of the students themselves. This includes detailed information on the level of supervision and dealing with absence.

Code of Practice on Assessment of Research Degree Theses (PDF)

Guidance on the arrangement and conduct of the examination of Research Degree theses. It includes guidance for the examiners and the criteria for their nomination, together with the recommendations available to the examiners.

Code of Practice on Taught Programme and Module Assessment and Feedback (PDF)

Explanation of the requirements for assessing work, and giving feedback. This includes sections on marking, progression and awards, and gives guidance on profiling, assessment and feedback. This document also explains the roles of Boards of Examiners and the University Progress and Awards Board.

Student conduct

Code of Practice on Academic Integrity (including Plagiarism and Conduct in Examinations and Class Tests) (PDF)

Information on what is considered academic integrity, as well as the processes for detecting and dealing with cases of plagiarism. This document also discusses possible consequences and penalties, as well as the working of the College Misconduct Committee.

Code of Practice on Misconduct and Fitness to Practice Committees (PDF)

This Code details the procedure for the arrangement and conduct of College and University Misconduct and Fitness to Practise Committees, including the order of proceedings and potential sanctions.

Student support

Code of Practice on Extenuating Circumstances (PDF)

A document giving information on the extenuating circumstances (or mitigation) procedure, the grounds for extenuating circumstances and general guidance on the evidence which could be submitted. The document also discusses the options available to Extenuating Circumstances Panels including the relevant grading criteria.

Code of Practice on Reasonable Adjustments (PDF)

Sets out how the need for reasonable adjustments should be identified and how they may be addressed.

Code of Practice on Personal Academic Tutoring (PDF)

An outline of the responsibilities around the Personal Tutor – Student relationship. The Code also contains sections on Career and Skills Development and Quality Assurance.

Code of Practice on Health, Wellbeing and Fitness to Study (PDF)

Sets out the processes for addressing issues of students’ health and wellbeing in relation to their academic progression and University life in general.

Code of Practice on Leave of Absence Procedures (PDF)

Information on the types of Leave of Absence applicable in different circumstances, including a discussion of the consequences of a period of Leave of Absence, alternatives to Leave of Absence, and what happens if a student fails to return from a period of Leave of Absence.

The Office for Students (OfS) requires the University to publish a series of data showing admissions related data, continuation data, and attainment data in a prescribed format. The latest University of Birmingham data will be published here in summer 2021 following receipt of the data from the OfS.