Postgraduate taught courses

The majority of our taught Masters courses are available to study either full-time over one year or part-time over two years. They involve 120 credits of taught modules - usually made up of six 20-credit modules - and are completed with a 15,000-word dissertation which is undertaken under the supervision of an expert in the field.

For those looking for shorter qualifications, some courses also offer Certificate or Diploma entry routes, which require the completion of 60 credits or 120 credits of taught modules, respectively. If you choose to study full-time, the Certificate takes just four months and the Diploma eight months; part-time, the Certificate is studied over eight months and the Diploma is studied over sixteen months across two academic years.

A number of our courses can be studied by distance learning.

In addition to the traditional courses we offer, the College is home to a number of innovative courses which allow students to work, and present their research, in creative and engaging ways.

The School of English, Drama and Creative Studies, for example, is home to the Shakespeare and Creativity MA which allows students to write and perform an original piece of creative work inspired by Shakespeare, and the Film and Television: Research and Production MA which allows students to create a short film documentary in place of completing a dissertation.

The MA Digital Media and Creative Industries has an option to complete a practice-based project that works with industry in region on a particular facet of their work.

The MA Translation Studies has an option to complete an extended translation project

The MA Creative Writing allows students to complete a 10,000-word portfolio of creative work in the form of a screenplay, excerpt of a novel, a collection of short fiction or a collection of poetry (600 lines)

Our Music MA offers multiple pathways, with a choice of assessment methods – a traditional dissertation, a recital or a composition portfolio.

The College of Arts and Law offers all our postgraduate students opportunities to gain and enhance skills, alongside your studies, to aid your personal and professional development. These include free language training and employability skills.

When submitting an application for any postgraduate course, you'll need to submit supporting documentation alongside your application form. Here are some helpful tips on the application process, and what you'll need to consider.

There are five key steps to consider when making your application to study a postgraduate course in the College of Arts and Law.

1. Choose your course using the course finder tool. Find your course

Click on the course you want to apply for to access a tailored application. This will guide you through compiling and submitting your application and supporting documents online.

Your application will be customised based on your chosen course and your answers. See the application guidance notes.

After submitting your application, you'll receive details on how to access your applicant portal. This portal enables you to track your application's progress, update personal information, view decisions, and accept offers.

2. Consider whether you meet the entry requirements:

• General requirements
• International entry and English language requirements

3. Check the specific course entry requirements, which can be found on the course page.

4. Contact the department if you need any advice about a particular course

5. Consider the supporting documents you'll need to upload as part of your application

If you have difficulties with any aspect of the application process, please contact: calpg-comms@contacts.bham.ac.uk

When you apply for a postgraduate courser, you will have the option to upload your supporting documents. The following information will usually be needed before a decision can be made on your application:

• Two academic references (or if appropriate to the programme applied for, one could be from your employer).
• Degree transcript(s) - originals or certified photocopies:

If you have graduated

You'll be asked to upload a scan of your original or certified copies of your degree certificate(s) and transcript(s) on the Postgraduate Application Portal.

Please be prepared to send in your original or certified copies of your documents if the Admissions team requests to verify them.

If you don’t have certified copies of your documents and would prefer not to send the original, you can get copies certified by either the institution where you studied; a notary; or the British Council (students outside the UK).

If you are an EU or International student and submitted your application with a University of Birmingham Overseas Representative, they will be able to verify your documents and there will be no need to send in copies by post.

If you are currently a student

You'll be asked to upload an interim transcript from your latest exams.

Please be prepared to send in your original or certified copies of your degree certificate and final transcript upon graduation if the Admissions team requests to verify them.

If you don’t have certified copies of your documents and would prefer not to send the original, you can get copies certified by either the institution where you studied; a notary; or the British Council (students outside the UK).

If you are an EU or international student and submitted your application with a University of Birmingham Overseas Representative, they will be able to verify your documents and there will be no need to send in copies by post. Please note, if you did not originally submit your application through an agent representative, you will not be able to ask an agent to help you verify and upload documents at this stage.

• Certificate to show competency in the English language, if English is not your first language and you have already taken a test. 

  Make sure that your test results are no more than two years old from the start date of your course at the University of Birmingham.

• Personal statement, approximately 5000 characters, explaining why you are interested in studying on your chosen programme. Alternatively, you can type this within your application.

Now that you have all of your supporting documentation ready, you're ready to apply for your postgraduate course - good luck!

If you run into any difficulty, please consult our application guidance notes.