If you're looking to study a postgraduate degree with us and you are of majority English speaking nationality or if you have completed a qualification that's equivalent to a UK bachelor's degree, as conferred by the UK's National Academic Recognition Information Centre (UK NARIC), in a majority English speaking country (including the UK and Ireland), you will not be asked to provide an English language qualification – however, confirmation may be requested that teaching during the degree was undertaken in English.
If you aren't of majority English speaking nationality, as deemed by the UK Home Office, you will be required to take a Secure English Language Test (SELT) in order to study a postgraduate (eg master's) degree with us.
Our Pre-sessional Academic English course
Our Pre-sessional Academic English course can help prepare you for entry on to one of our postgraduate degree courses. It's ideal if your level of English is just below the requirements for your chosen degree or you want to feel a bit more confident before starting your studies.
For the majority of our postgraduate degrees the following Secure English Language Test (SELT) minimum scores are required (please note the exceptions below):
Academic IELTS
Overall score required: 6.0
Component scores required:
Listening: 5.5
Reading: 5.5
Writing: 5.5
Speaking: 5.5
IELTS Indicator
Overall score required: 6.0
Component scores required:
Listening: 5.5
Reading: 5.5
Writing: 5.5
Speaking: 5.5
Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic
Component scores required:
Listening: 59
Reading: 59
Writing: 59
Speaking: 59
Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet Based Test (TOEFL iBT)
Overall score required: 72
Component scores required:
Listening: 17
Reading: 18
Writing: 17
Speaking: 20
TOEFL iBT Home Edition
Overall score required: 72
Component scores required:
Listening: 17
Reading: 18
Writing: 17
Speaking: 20
Cambridge English
Cambridge C1 Advanced, formerly Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) – grade C and above
Cambridge C2 Proficiency, formerly Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) – grade C and above
A certifying statement of results is also required.
Taking a Secure English Language Tests
Find out more about taking a SELT test on our Secure English Language Test pages.
Confirming your test results to us
If you're already holding a conditional offer with us, you should respond to this offer when you receive the results of your test by uploading your chosen English language test certificate (official copy scans only). We will confirm and verify your results and contact you accordingly. You can upload your English Language Certificate by logging into our applicant portal with your username and password.
Some of our postgraduate degrees require you to have higher English language test scores. This applies to the following degrees (please see further exceptions below for Creative, Digital and Professional Writing MA, Sports Therapy MSc and the Common Professional Exam):
- Biomedical Science MSc (Overall 6 is accepted for IELTS)
- Blood Science MSc and Blood Science (Distance Learning) MSc (Overall 6 is accepted for IELTS)
- Cancer Pharmacology MSc
- Conference Interpreting MA
- Education MA and other education and teaching courses
- Legal Practice (Top-up)
- Interpreting MA
- Legal Practice LLM (all routes)
- Maritime Law (Distance-learning)
- Maritime Law LLM
- Maritime Law PG Cert
- Maritime Law PG Dip
- Media Law (Distance-learning) PG Cert
- Media Law (Distance-learning) PG Dip
- Media Law LLM
- Medical Genomics MSc (Overal 6 is accepted for IELTS)
- Pharmaceutical Science and Drug Delivery (Overall 6 is accepted for IELTS)
- Psychology MSc and other psychology courses
- Psychology of Mental Health MSc
- Specialised Translation PG Cert
- Teaching Languages (English) MA
- Translation Technology PG Cert
- Translation MA and other translation courses
For these degrees you'll be required to have the following scores:
Academic IELTS
Overall score required: 6.5
Component scores required:
Listening: 6.0
Reading: 6.0
Writing: 6.0
Speaking: 6.0
IELTS Indicator
Overall score required: 6.5
Component scores required:
Listening: 6.0
Reading: 6.0
Writing: 6.0
Speaking: 6.0
Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic
Component scores required:
Listening: 70
Reading: 70
Writing: 70
Speaking: 70
TOEFL iBT
Component scores required:
Listening: 21
Reading: 22
Writing: 21
Speaking: 23
TOEFL iBT Home Edition
Component scores required:
Listening: 21
Reading: 22
Writing: 21
Speaking: 23
Further exceptions
- Common Professional Examination (Graduate Diploma in Law)
- Counselling Psychology - Prof Doc
- Dietetics and Nutrition - MSc
- Social Work MSc
- Sports Therapy MSc
For these degrees you'll be required to have the following scores:
Academic IELTS
Overall score required: 7
Component scores required:
Listening: 6.5
Reading: 6.5
Writing: 6.5
Speaking: 6.5
IELTS Indicator
Overall score required: 7
Component scores required:
Listening: 6.5
Reading: 6.5
Writing: 6.5
Speaking: 6.5
Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic
Component scores required:
Listening: 70
Reading: 70
Writing: 70
Speaking: 70
TOEFL iBT
Component scores required:
Listening: 22
Reading: 24
Writing: 24
Speaking: 25
TOEFL iBT Home Edition
Component scores required:
Listening: 22
Reading: 24
Writing: 24
Speaking: 25
Cambridge English
Cambridge C1 Advanced, formerly Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) – grade C and above
Cambridge C2 Proficiency, formerly Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) – grade C and above
A certifying statement of results is also required.
Special exceptions
Please note, some of our courses require even higher English language requirements:
- Pre-registration Physiotherapy MSc, Sports Therapy MSc and Law: Common Professional Exam - GDL: We require a minimum average score of 7.0, with a minimum of 7 in writing and 6.5 in all other components.
- Creative, Digital and Professional Writing MA: We require a minimum average score of 7.0, with a minimum of 6.5 in all components except Writing, where we require a minimum of 7.0.
- Teaching Languages (Arabic) MA: We require a minimum average score of 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 5.5 in all components.
Research degrees
If you'll be studying a research degree, please see our English language requirements for our research programmes.