Staged admissions process

A staged admissions process means that when you apply for September 2023 entry, your application will be considered with all others that have been submitted before that particular deadline.

Therefore, you might not hear from us with details of your offer until a few weeks after the deadline has been reached. This enables us to ensure that all applications are considered fairly and equally.

A staged admissions process is in place for the following programmes in the School of Government. Please note that the staged admissions process currently applies to applications from China only:

• Master of Public Administration (MPA)
• MPA (Finance)
• MPA (Human Resources)
• MSc International Relations
• MA International Political Economy
• MSc Public Management

Each year we see a large volume of high quality applications and as places for these programmes are very competitive, applicants who demonstrate being able to exceed the minimum entry requirements and have studied at high ranking institutions will be given preference.

Application stages

There are currently three stages of the application process.  Please refer to the table below, for application deadlines, dates for a return of a decision, and deposit deadlines.  (Please note that the deadlines cannot be moved.)

* Stage 4 is an open stage. This means that if programmes are still open applications will be considered on a first-come first-served basis. Please note programmes may close to applications at any point through the year. Applications received after 1 July 2023 will only be considered if the admissions process is still open for this programme, and applicants do not require a visa to study in the UK. 

You will hear from us with a decision on your application by the dates in the table above. If you have not heard from our admissions team by this time, please contact pgadmissions@contacts.bham.ac.uk. 

Process

Submit your application via the ‘apply now’ button on the relevant course page.

When you apply, please ensure that you submit all of your supporting documents including an English language proficiency certificate (if English is not your first language) if you have one already. (We are unable to consider applications without supporting documentation regarding your academic study, and must adhere to the deadlines stated).

If you are not offered a place during the stage that you applied for, you may be asked if you wish to be considered as part of the next stage. We will contact you regarding this if appropriate.

Further information about how to apply can be found on our 'How to apply' page.

Deposit

If you are offered a place, you must accept your offer and pay a deposit of £2,000 by the deadline stated in the table above, and as given in your offer.  Failure to do so may result in your offering being withdrawn.

•     Further information about offers can be found here