Frequently Asked Questions

Generally, coming on an Exchange programme means your tuition fees will be waived, and the University of Birmingham will send students to your home institutions in exchange. 

Coming on a Study abroad programme means that you (or your institution) will pay tuition fees to the University of Birmingham for your study duration and will not necessarily send students to your home institution.

Further comparison is available below:

*We have limited number of guaranteed rooms in our campus accommodation, please apply as early as possible. We will provide support you to find alternate accommodation options.

**You will pay your home university as usual

***It is possible that your home university pays for our tuition fees on your behalf.

If you are coming on an exchange programme (non fee-paying), nominations are completed by your home university (usually your study abroad/international office team). Please check with them to ensure you have been nominated.

If you are coming on a study abroad programme (fee-paying), nominations are completed by your home university (usually your study abroad/international office team) if they have a mobility agreement in place. 

The nominations deadlines are:

For the Autumn semester and full year: March 31

For the Spring semester: September 30

If you are coming on a study abroad programme (fee-paying) from a non-partner university, you can apply directly using our application link. 

Usually, the application link is sent around 5 working days after the nomination deadline and after our online application information sessions. 

If you are a student from non-partner university, you can apply directly using this form.

If you are joining us in Autumn, you can expect to receive your offer between June and July. If you are joining in January, you can expect to receive your offer letter between November and December.  

If you receive a conditional offer, it will explain the reason on the letter. Most likely it’s because your English proficiency certificate doesn’t meet our entry requirements. As soon as you send us a new certificate, we will upload it onto your application and our admissions team will process it again. 

We ask you to accept the conditional offer using the link in the offer letter as you will not receive an unconditional acceptance unless requested. This might take time to because the priority will be to send out offers to applicants that have accepted their conditional offers.

You will receive a visa document after your status changes to "unconditionally accepted" (once you have met all our conditions.

Please note that you might not receive an unconditional offer letter itself but you will get your Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number (if you are a full year student only) or Standard Visitor Visa (SVV) letter (if you are a one semester student) to apply for your visa. 

Not all students will receive letters at the same time. They are completed in no particular order, and we cannot expedite this process but do not worry, you will have enough time to apply for your visa.

Once you have been made an offer of a place you will receive an offer letter. All of the information that you require prior to your arrival at the University will be sent to you electronically or it will be available online. You can also visit the Welcome pages on the University's website which contain useful information for students starting at Birmingham.

All students who have had an offer will be sent full details of the orientation events by email. It is important that you check your emails regularly, as some of our events will be tailored individually for you.

If you do not have the required level of English or would like to improve your English before the start of the academic year, you can take one of our pre-sessional English language courses.

These courses are run by our Birmingham International Academy. Find out more about the details, costs, and application process for those courses. You can apply for this once you have applied to be an Exchange or Study Abroad (Fee-Paying) student.

For full information on how the University will process your data please see Student Applicant Privacy Notice.

If you are on a set module study abroad programme, your modules will be set and will have already been communicated to you.

If you are on an open module study abroad or exchange programme, we will send you an email with instructions and the module application form that you will need to fill in before the deadline. You will need to choose up to 6 modules per semester of study at UoB and place them in the order of your preference. The College(s) you have applied for will contact you directly to discuss your module selection. 

If you are a Postgraduate/Master's student, you will need to contact your college or school directly to arrange module selection.   

One semester: 60 UK credits (equivalent to 30 ECTS)

One year: 120 UK credits (equivalent to 60 ECTS)

Most of our modules are worth either 20 or 10 UK credits.

LC is certificate level (first year),
LI is intermediate level (second year) and,
LH is honours level (third year) - all Undergraduate (UG) 

LM is Master level - Postgraduate (PG).

Yes. However, you need to remember that you have to take 40 UK credits from your preferred college and there might be limitations to what you can choose due to different timetables. 

This is relevant to students coming from our European partners.

All incoming students have an allocated academic exchange tutor through their host school. They are able to sign your Learning Agreement or Study Plan after your modules are confirmed. Some schools might sign it earlier, but this is not guaranteed.

You need to send a pdf file to your academic exchange tutor for the signature or do it in person, once you have arrived.

For September intake, modules will be confirmed in September, and you will be able to see them on your timetable about a week before your classes start.

For January intake, you can expect your modules to be confirmed and appear on your timetable in the first two weeks of January.

Yes, in general, once the teaching starts, you will have two weeks* to change your modules.

*Please note that our School of Biosciences only has a one-week window due to the timing of the lab practical.

If necessary, we will transfer you to a different college/school in which you have most of your modules. 

Once your marks are released, your official transcript will be available on Verify within 3-5 working days of your marks being released.

Please note that you must allow your home university access to your University of Birmingham (UoB) academic transcript of records via the Verify system - no hard copies will be posted or electronic copies emailed to your home universities.

Your home university must register on the system as a third party to gain access to your academic record.

VERY IMPORTANT - After completion of your programme, your access to UoB email will be restricted. However, you can use the UoB login credentials to access Verify. If it doesn't work, try replacing the last bit of your student email with ‘alumni@bham.ac.uk’.

Please refer to the link below for step-by-step guidance to access and share your documents:

Secure Documents website: How do I share my degree documents?

If you have any questions regarding your official transcript or Verify – please email securedocuments@contacts.bham.ac.uk – the study abroad team cannot answer these questions.

Yes, once you have received your offer letter and your University of Birmingham student ID (a seven-digit number found on your offer letter) you can apply for accommodation through the Accommodation Portal.  

Please note that you will need to register for an account using the same email address used during the University application process.

If you currently have a conditional offer, you can apply given that you know you can provide missing documents (usually an English certificate) and that they will meet the requirements. 

If you are joining us in September for a full year (starting September 2025) you have up until 31 July 2025 to apply for accommodation to be guaranteed the opportunity to book a room in one of our accommodation villages, or with one of our trusted accommodation partners. All students that have applied by this date will be contacted by the Student Living from Thursday 14th August 2025 with their timeslot and more information on how to secure their room.

We have a dedicated number of rooms available for exchange studying at the University for one semester. If you're joining us for the 2025 Autumn semester only (September to December 2025) you have up until 31 July 2025 to apply for accommodation. You'll be invited to book your room with us from 14 August 2025.

As soon as you receive your offer letter, you can apply for accommodation. Your Guarantee Scheme deadline will be released nearer to the time, but it's usually before Christmas.