Frequently Asked Questions

The Postgraduate Progression Award provides a £1,500 tuition fee discount for eligible students.

Once it is applied for and confirmed, the discount is then applied automatically to your fees when you enrol on your programme of choice. You will therefore be asked to pay your fees with the discount already deducted.

Students who graduate with an undergraduate degree from the University of Birmingham in 2020 and progress directly to a postgraduate taught programme (see below) with us in the 2020/21 academic year (September 2020 or January 2021 entry).

The programmes eligible are:

• LLM
• MA (Taught)
• MPH
• MSc (Pre-reg)
• MSc (Taught)
• PGDipEd (QTS)
• Postgraduate Diploma

The discount will be applied for full and part-time postgraduate taught programmes including:

• LLM
• MA (Taught)
• MPH
• MSc (Pre-reg)
• MSc (Taught)
• PGDipEd (QTS)
• Postgraduate Diploma

The award only applies to our programmes delivered at our Edgbaston Campus or online via distance learning.

The award will not apply to the following postgraduate programmes:

• PG Certificate
• SKE
• EngD
• LLB for Graduates
• Intercalated programmes 
• MA (Research)
• MRes
• MSc (Research)
• MBChB
• PhD
• PhD with Integrated Study
• Programmes delivered at our Dubai Campus 
• Integrated courses (e.g. MSci and MEng) that are supported with undergraduate student finance
• Schools Direct programmes

We will verify your application and confirm your discount after the 30 June deadline. The discount will then be applied automatically to your fees when you register for your programme.

The discount is not applied automatically.

To be considered for it, you will need to have made an application to your intended postrgrsduate programme by the deadline of 30 June 2020 and complete the Postgraduate Progression Awards application form.

Yes, the deadline to apply is 30 June 2020.

The award cannot be held in conjunction with any other University-funded scholarship or other discount, including the Birmingham Masters Scholarship. 

Students with funding from an external organisation will be eligible for the fee discount.

If you benefit from funding from an external organisation, such as the NHS, you will still be eligible for the fee discount.

No, the scheme is only available for Masters-level taught programmes

No, the scheme is not available to students already enrolled on a Masters-level taught programme. 

Yes, students recorded as Home, EU or International for fee-status purposes are all eligible, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria.

Both full-time and part-time postgraduate taught programmes qualify.

Yes, programmes delivered online are eligible. 

If you have already applied to a programme, you can complete the Postgraduate Progression Award application form and include your application details.

We will verify your application and confirm your discount after the 30 June deadline. The discount will then be applied automatically to your fees when you register for your programme.

Students who are enrolled on an eligible course and charged fees on a modular basis can still apply for a Postgraduate Progression Award. A fee discount will be applied across your first two postgraduate modules (£750 per module).

Part-time programmes will have the fee reduction applied, in full, in the first year of the course only. For example, a two year degree would have £1,500 reduction for the first year of study and the second year would be the full tuition cost.

This means the fee reduction is not applied pro-rata and is only applied to the tuition fees for the academic year 2020/21.

Our fees have been set for the 2020 academic cycle and we do not envisage these changing, so your tuition fee discount will be applied to the advertised cost of your course.

If any aspect of your course is delivered online, in a change to the usual course structure, we will advise you of this as early as possible and will ensure our online facilities, resources and teaching are maintained at our usual high standard.

At the moment we are planning for our accommodation to be available for a September start and are monitoring the situation carefully. Any changes will be communicated to our applicants and be published on our COVID-19 FAQs page as soon as there is an update.

You can still apply to us, and be assured that you are not committed to the contract or costs of the accommodation until you have firmly accepted your offer, met all conditions and have paid your Advance Rent Payment, which you pay to secure your accommodation (like a deposit). 

You can find out further information on the Accommodation section of our website. 

Should you submit an application for the BMS and for the Postgraduate Progression Award (PPA), you will be considered for both awards by separate selection panels. If you are made an offer for both schemes, you would be offered the opportunity to accept the BMS (higher award). Once the BMS award has been accepted we will withdraw your PPA offer.  

We would encourage you to apply for the PPA as this is an award you will receive (if eligible) regardless if you are unsuccessful in your BMS application.

If you have questions about the awards, your application or an existing offer, then you can:

• Contact us via email at pg@contacts.bham.ac.uk 

• Use our live chat (available Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm)

• Chat with our staff and students through our regular online events. 

In these extraordinary circumstances, and having considered this carefully, the University is not anticipating offering any tuition fee refund, or general financial compensation related to this global event.  

However, and in line with our standard procedures, any student who wishes to raise a concern or formal complaint can do so. 

Details of the complaints procedure, for students, are available on the student intranet.  

You can also read more about our consideration on the COVID-19 FAQs for current students.