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Entry requirements

Entry requirements for our master’s programmes are listed using standard UK undergraduate degree classifications. To find how these equate to your qualification:

• Visit our A-Z of master’s degrees
• Find your chosen programme
• Go to the Entry requirements section
• Choose your country or region for the equivalent grade requirements  

Our dedicated webpages for international applicants provide further information about Postgraduate qualification equivalencies for international students.

If you can’t find information about your country or region, please email us with copies of your qualifications.

Applying via an agent

Agents provide advice and information about choosing a university and a programme. They can help with practical aspects too, including submitting your application and booking travel.

You’ll apply to us in the same way, you just need to tick a box to confirm you are using an agent and give us their contact details.

Please check the list of agents we work with to see the options available in your country or region.

English Language requirements 

All students are required to meet a minimum standard of English language ability, and some departments require a higher minimum level.

Visit our English language requirements page for more information.

You don’t need to have completed your English language qualifications before you apply. Many students receive conditional offers based on achieving certain grades in their English language tests.

If you don’t meet the English language requirements outlined in your offer, the School or Department you’re applying to may allow you to take one of our English language pre-sessional programmes.

Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) deposits

If you need a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) to apply for a student visa, you will have to pay a deposit of £2,500 to confirm you will be studying with us.

Once you begin your course, this deposit will be credited to your student account as a first payment towards your tuition fees.

We recommend you read our guidance about applying for your CAS and student visa for further information, including instructions on how to pay your deposit.

To ensure it reaches us in good time, please also make a note of the key master's deadlines for paying your deposit.

If you are a national of or are living in Afghanistan, Cuba, Crimea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria or Venezuela, please see our payment guidance for students. There may be additional requirements due to international sanctions.

Before starting to write, read the details of your chosen master's again carefully. Be clear about what you'll be studying, the entry requirements and where the course could take you after graduation.

Your personal statement doesn't need to be long – around one side of A4. It should include:

• Why you want to study your chosen programme with us.
• The skills and experience you'd bring to the programme – this could be relevant work or volunteering experience, as well as your studies and qualifications to date.
• Your hobbies and interests, if they’re relevant to your chosen programme.
• What you want to do after your studies – your plans for your career or further study.
• An explanation of any gaps in your studies or career to date.

Our Admissions Team reads hundreds of personal statements. Make sure yours stands out from the crowd. Be positive and enthusiastic, demonstrating your passion for your subject.

Your opening sentence should be bold and attention-grabbing. Encourage the person assessing your personal statement to keep reading and view your application favourably.

There's no such thing as a perfect personal statement, but there are things you should avoid when writing and submitting yours:

• A template with generic information that could apply to any university. A template might be a good way to get your personal statement started, but don't stick to it too rigidly. Tailor your statement to the programme and university you're applying to. Mention both by name to keep your writing focused.
• Leaving tracked changes on. It’s good to review and edit your personal statement, perhaps asking someone else to read it and suggest changes. But when you're finished, make sure the final document looks tidy and professional.
• Copy-pasting extracts from a webpage. Plagiarism is something that all universities take very seriously. Using someone else's words in your personal statement is not the way to make a good impression.
• Using AI to generate your personal statement. It’s tempting to use tools like ChatGPT, but we can tell if you have. A personal statement is meant to be just that – personal. No computer is going to know you as well as you know yourself.
• Submitting a personal statement meant for a different course or university. If you’re working on several applications, it’s easy to accidentally upload the wrong document. Name and label your files clearly.
• Not providing enough information. This is your chance to showcase yourself, your studies, experience and interests. Include everything that's relevant to your chosen programme and will make your application shine.

A university can only sponsor a student visa for a second course of the same level if it offers clear academic progression.

To help us sponsor your student visa, you’ll need to include some additional information in your personal statement. You must explain how:

• Your second course links to the first, following on and providing a deeper specialisation within your subject.
• The combination of programmes supports your career aspirations.

We will assess your application very carefully and may ask you for further information, for example, about your study and career plans.

You must be able to prove that you have successfully completed your previous programme before we can sponsor your student visa for your new course. If you don’t have written evidence before the start date of your new programme, it is unlikely that we will be able to sponsor your student visa for that year.

Most of our master’s programmes require one academic reference which should come from your current or most recent place of study.

If you’re not able to obtain an academic reference, you may be able to provide a professional reference instead. Please contact our Admissions team to check if this will be acceptable.

For a few programmes, we may ask for both an academic and professional reference. If this applies to you, it will be clearly stated in your offer email.

We will not contact your referees. You must obtain your reference yourself and send it to us.

Your reference should be signed and certified, on official letterheaded paper, and can be submitted in one of the following ways:

• Uploaded via the
• Scanned and emailed to p.g.taught@lboro.ac.uk

Please note

You must provide your referee’s official university, college or employer’s email address for verification purposes. We do not accept generic email accounts, such as, for example Gmail, Hotmail, 163 or

Alternatively, we will accept an email reference sent from your referee’s official university or employer email address. This should be emailed to p.g.taught@lboro.ac.uk

If your referee is unsure of what to include in their reference or requires a written request from the University, download this reference request template, fill in your details and pass it to your referee.

You’ll need to submit a copy of the academic transcript from your current or most recent place of study, showing the modules studied and the marks achieved.

If you’ve already graduated, you’ll also need to provide a copy of your degree certificate.

If you’ve completed your studies but haven’t yet graduated, we can accept a copy of your final transcript plus a letter from your university giving your final grade and confirming that you have completed your degree. This award letter replaces your degree certificate.

Don't worry if you don't have all your results yet. You can upload the documents you do have via the and add any outstanding documents when they become available.

All documents submitted must be certified so that we can be sure they are genuine.

A certified document must be on official university headed paper and have at least one of the following: 

• A clear ink or impression stamp from the university that awarded the qualification.
• An address stamp of the university that is signed and dated by an official of the university.
• If you are applying an as international student via an agent, the stamp and signature of one of our registered overseas agents to confirm that they have seen your original document first hand.

Electronically produced documents should be digitally signed or secured by your previous university to prevent editing, and they must not be password protected. We will waive this requirement, if the documents are emailed to us directly from your previous university’s academic registry or equivalent.

If more than one page is submitted – for example, a degree certificate and one or more pages of a transcript – all separate pages must be certified in the same way.

If we are not satisfied that it’s certified correctly, we may refuse to accept that a document is genuine. In this case, we may ask you to provide another copy.

Please note

We cannot accept screen shots, online downloads or anything that is not on university headed paper as evidence of your qualifications.

We consider a range of factors when assessing applications, including:

• Average marks, a GPA or final grade from prior degree-level studies (whether completed or still incomplete at time of applying).
• Marks or grades achieved for individual subjects or modules taken, particularly where they provide an important foundation for further study at postgraduate level.
• The ranking or reputation of your previous university.
• Evidence of competence in English language.
• Your personal statement.
• Academic references from your current/previous university.
• For some programmes, work experience or a professional qualification may be required in addition to an academic qualification.
• For some programmes a portfolio, example of written work, or evidence of practical skills are required.

Please note

The grade equivalences listed should be interpreted as a general indication of the marks required to gain entry. Due to the range of factors considered when assessing an application, it is impractical to adhere to exact percentage requirements or equivalences between marks gained in different countries.

Once your application has been assessed, our Admissions team will inform you via email of their decision.

If you receive an unconditional offer, that means we are satisfied that you have met all the entry requirements for your programme. Whilst we will not ask for further confirmation of your qualifications, we may ask you to prove you have your funding in place.

If you accept an unconditional offer, your status will be updated to Unconditional Firm and you will be guaranteed a place on your programme.

If you receive a conditional offer from us, your offer email will include any academic or non-academic conditions that you will need to meet.

Example conditions may include:

• Meet our English language requirements.
• Provide a satisfactory reference on official letterheaded paper.
• Obtain an upper second-class honours degree.

You don't need to wait until you've met all of your conditions before accepting your offer – you can do this at any time in the application portal and your status will be updated to Conditional Provisional.

When all your conditions have been met, your status will change to Unconditional.